Lin-Manuel Miranda to Receive Changemaker Award from Greenwich International Film Festival

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a changemaker… And, now he’ll have the award to prove it.

The 42-year-old Puerto Rican actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director will receive the 2022 Changemaker Award from the Greenwich International Film Festival, according to festival organizer.

Lin-Manuel MirandaMiranda, the Pulitzer Prize winning creator of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton and the soundtracks to Disney‘s Moana and Encanto, has been selected for the award for his work with the Miranda Family Fund, which supports causes like education, the arts and social justice, and has been particularly focused on rebuilding efforts in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017.

In particular, GIFF is recognizing the work the fund has done in the last three years to provide more than 80 emerging artists with professional training, support in the business of the arts, access to casting directors, managers, and agents.

Miranda is also receiving the award for his work developing two full-time paid fellowship programs for BIPOC people in the arts world as a way of combating systemic barriers in the industry: a fellowship with acclaimed theater Woolly Mammoth for arts administrators which was announced in December 2020, and a Miranda fellows program at Telsey & Co. Casting Agency, the first class of which will be announced this winter.

The Changemaker Award honors artists who use film to forward social change.

Previous recipients include Eva Longoria Baston, Ashley Judd, Renée Zellweger, Christy Turlington Burns, Freida Pinto, Trudie Styler, Abigail Breslin, Harry Belafonte and Mia Farrow.

“I am especially honored to receive this award from GIFF, a non-profit that ‘bridges the worlds of art and philanthropy’—two areas I care about so deeply,” said Miranda in a statement. “I wouldn’t be where I am without the investment that arts educators have been putting into students for decades, often made possible only by the philanthropy of others. My family and I long ago made a commitment to continue that philanthropy, to open up more avenues for underrepresented artists, to diversify the field and allow far more people to be seen and heard. Thank you to GIFF for helping to continue to make that possible.”

GIFF, an all-female led non-profit organization that aims to use film to support social justice and philanthropic efforts, also announced that, instead of hosting a traditional week-long film festival, this year they will produce “GIFF: Uninterrupted,” a year-long programming format that will allow filmmakers to screen projects around other festival runs, premiere dates and press tours. GIFF will host an exclusive digital streaming platform for circumstances in which in-person events aren’t possible, and will continue to offer its best social impact film award, which includes a $10,000 cash prize. The award will be announced via virtual ceremony on April 27, 2022.

Miranda will be honored at the 2022 Changemaker Gala, which will be held May 25. Jenna Bush-Hager will emcee the event, which will take place at L’Escale in Greenwich, Conn.

Armisen’s IFC mockumentray series “Documentary Now!” Premiering in September

It’s anchors aweigh for Fred Armisen

IFC is set to kick off its new season of its mockumentary television series Documentary Now!, starring the 49-year-old half-Venezuelan actor and former Saturday Night Live star, Bill Hader and Seth Meyers, on September 14.

Fred Armisen

Co-created by Armisen, Hader, Meyers and Rhys Thomas, Documentary Now! lovingly parodies some of the world’s best-known documentaries

The new season will being with a send-up of the 1993 political docu The War Room, about Bill Clinton’s campaign for POTUS in ’92. Hader reprises his James Carville, while Armisen, in a memorable wig, portrays Good Morning America anchor and political correspondent George Stephanopoulos.

Hader said they decided to spoof The War Room because it’s a documentray that affected comedy series for years to come, citing The Larry Sanders Show and The Office. “It started with that documentary,” he said.

Plus, Carville and Stephanopoulos “were two characters Fred and I could play,” Hader said. “We could totally play those characters”

Anne Hathaway, Mia Farrow, Peter Bogdanovich and Peter Fonda guest on this season of Documentary Now!

The mocumentary series is produced by Broadway Video.

Martin Sheen to Participate in Broadway Revival of A.R. Gurney’s Play “Love Letters”

Martin Sheen is ready to share a few Love Letters on The Great White Way…

The 73-year-old half-Spanish American actor and West Wing alum has signed on to take part in the star-fueled revival of playwright A.R. Gurney’s play Love Letters.

Martin Sheen

The play centers on two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III. The couple sit side by side at tables and read the notes, letters and cards – in which over nearly 50 years, they discuss their hopes and ambitions, dreams and disappointments, victories and defeats – that have passed between them throughout their separated lives.

The play, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, will return to Broadway beginning September 13 at the Nederlander Theatre.

Martin Sheen will be paired with Anjelica Huston for their three-week run of performances. The other pairings include Brian Dennehy and Mia Farrow, Brian Dennehy and Carol Burnett, Alan Alda and Candice Bergen, and Stacy Keach and Diana Rigg.

Two-time Tony Award winner Gregory Mosher will direct the production.

Here’s the schedule so far:

Saturday, September 13, 2014, through Friday, October 10, 2014: Brian Dennehy & Mia Farrow

Saturday, October 11, 2014, through Friday, November 7, 2014: Carol Burnett & Brian Dennehy

Saturday, November 8, 2014 through Friday, December 5, 2014: Alan Alda & Candice Bergen

Saturday, December 6, 2014, through Friday, January 9, 2015: Stacy Keach & Diana Rigg

Saturday, January 10, 2015, through Sunday, February 1, 2015: Anjelica Huston & Martin Sheen

The first reading of Love Letters took place at the New York Public Library, performed by Gurney and Holland Taylor. The original full production was directed by John Tillinger and opened November 3, 1988, at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut starring Joanna Gleason and John Rubinstein, followed by a New York production opening March 27, 1989, at off-Broadway’s Promenade Theatre starring Kathleen Turner and John Rubinstein. On October 31, 1989, Love Letters opened at Broadway’s Edison Theatre starring Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards, where it ran for 96 performances.

Saldaña to Star in NBC’s “Rosemary’s Baby” Miniseries

There’s something seriously wrong with Zoë Saldaña baby…

No, no! The 33-year-old half-Dominican/half-Puerto Rican American actress isn’t expecting. But she has landed the lead role in a new adaptation of a classic thriller.

Zoë Saldaña

The Avatar and Star Trek star has been cast in NBC’s four-hour miniseries Rosemary’s Baby, an adaptation of the 1967 best-selling suspense novel by Ira Levin.

The miniseries centers on Rosemary (Saldana), a young wife and would-be mother who, with her husband, moves into a Paris apartment that has a darkly storied past. After finally getting pregnant, she becomes increasingly suspicious that both her husband and their mysterious neighbors have ulterior motives about the future of her child.

Mia Farrow famously played the role in Roman Polanski’s 1968 feature film adaptation.

“Zoe has proven that she is one of our most gifted actresses, and we think she has the perfect combination of spirit and gravitas to take on the title role from Ira Levin’s infamous novel,” said NBC’s head of longform Quinn Taylor. “With Zoe leading the cast under the direction of Agnieszka Holland, this reimagined event miniseries is off to a great start.”

Holland is directing the project from a script by Scott Abbott.

Production is set to begin shortly in Paris.

Saldaña recently appeared in the Christian Bale drama Out Of The Furnace, and her upcoming projects include Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy and Blood Ties.

Rosemary’s Baby is the first miniseries greenlighted by NBC as part of its renewed push in the longform arena. It was followed shortly by an order for The Bible sequel A.D.