It’s Emmy season, so what better time to celebrate the Peacock limited series “The Best Man: The Final Chapters”? On Saturday, May 20, 2023, an intimate panel with leading cast members Morris Chestnut, Harold Perrineau and Melissa De Sousa was held at the NBCU FYC House in Los Angeles. Gold Derby associate editor Latasha Ford was on the red carpet to go behind the scenes with the cast and executive producers Nichelle Protho and Dominique Telson. Watch the fun, enlightening chats above.
“The Best Man: The Final Chapters” is a bittersweet limited series following longtime college friends who are conquering the midlife challenges of marriage, parenting, health, romance, work, and identity as they revisit and redefine their friendships. Developed by Malcolm D. Lee and Dayna Lynne North, the series stars the original cast from original box office hit franchise: Chestnut, De Sousa, Perrineau, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan and Nia Long.
“The Best Man: The Final Chapters” is a bittersweet limited series following longtime college friends who are conquering the midlife challenges of marriage, parenting, health, romance, work, and identity as they revisit and redefine their friendships. Developed by Malcolm D. Lee and Dayna Lynne North, the series stars the original cast from original box office hit franchise: Chestnut, De Sousa, Perrineau, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan and Nia Long.
- 5/22/2023
- by Latasha Ford
- Gold Derby
Complete casting for the US premiere of Room on Broadway has been announced.
Joining the previously announced Adrienne Warren will be Tony Award nominee Ephraim Sykes as SuperJack; Tina Benko (The Rose Tattoo) as Interviewer/Police Officer; Michael Genet (The Prom) as Grandpa/Doctor, Triney Sandoval (Bernhardt/Hamlet) as Old Nick, and child actors Aiden Mekhi Sierra and Christopher Woodley alternating in the role of Little Jack. Three-time Tony Award nominee Kate Burton will portray Grandma.
Room is written and adapted for the stage by Emma Donoghue, based on her 2010 best-selling novel which she also adapted into the award-winning 2015 film. The production, featuring songs and music by Scottish songwriters Kathryn Joseph and Cora Bissett and directed by Bissett, begins previews at the James Earl Jones Theatre on April 3, with an opening night of Monday, April 17. The limited engagement will run through September 17. Sam Julyan,...
Joining the previously announced Adrienne Warren will be Tony Award nominee Ephraim Sykes as SuperJack; Tina Benko (The Rose Tattoo) as Interviewer/Police Officer; Michael Genet (The Prom) as Grandpa/Doctor, Triney Sandoval (Bernhardt/Hamlet) as Old Nick, and child actors Aiden Mekhi Sierra and Christopher Woodley alternating in the role of Little Jack. Three-time Tony Award nominee Kate Burton will portray Grandma.
Room is written and adapted for the stage by Emma Donoghue, based on her 2010 best-selling novel which she also adapted into the award-winning 2015 film. The production, featuring songs and music by Scottish songwriters Kathryn Joseph and Cora Bissett and directed by Bissett, begins previews at the James Earl Jones Theatre on April 3, with an opening night of Monday, April 17. The limited engagement will run through September 17. Sam Julyan,...
- 2/15/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
More than two decades after the premiere of Universal’s The Best Man, fans will revisit with the cast in Peacock‘s limited series The Best Man: The Final Chapters premiering on December 22. The streamer released the first official trailer above.
Based upon the eponymous film franchise written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee, the 8-episode series will catch up with the beloved cast as relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance.
Returning cast includes all the originals: Morris Chestnut as Lance, Melissa De Sousa as Shelby, Taye Diggs as Harper, Regina Hall as Candy, Terrence Howard as Quentin, Sanaa Lathan as Robyn, Nia Long as Jordan, and Harold Perrineau as Murch. Rounding out the cast are Michael Genet, Yvonna Pearson, Aaron Serotsky, Terrence Terrell, Tobias Truvillion, and Eric Scott Ways.
The Best Man: The Final Chapters is produced by Universal Television,...
Based upon the eponymous film franchise written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee, the 8-episode series will catch up with the beloved cast as relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance.
Returning cast includes all the originals: Morris Chestnut as Lance, Melissa De Sousa as Shelby, Taye Diggs as Harper, Regina Hall as Candy, Terrence Howard as Quentin, Sanaa Lathan as Robyn, Nia Long as Jordan, and Harold Perrineau as Murch. Rounding out the cast are Michael Genet, Yvonna Pearson, Aaron Serotsky, Terrence Terrell, Tobias Truvillion, and Eric Scott Ways.
The Best Man: The Final Chapters is produced by Universal Television,...
- 11/30/2022
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Alan Cumming will oversee a traitorous game: The Good Wife vet will host Peacock’s reality competition show The Traitors, based on the Dutch series of the same name.
Set in a remote castle in the Scottish Highlands, the program features 20 contestants competing in a series of challenges for a cash prize — but “a number of the contestants coined ‘The Traitors’ will meet in secret to devise a plan to eliminate their fellow players coined ‘The Faithful,'” per the official description. “‘The Faithful’ must figure out who is a Traitor and vote them out so they can take the prize money for themselves.
Set in a remote castle in the Scottish Highlands, the program features 20 contestants competing in a series of challenges for a cash prize — but “a number of the contestants coined ‘The Traitors’ will meet in secret to devise a plan to eliminate their fellow players coined ‘The Faithful,'” per the official description. “‘The Faithful’ must figure out who is a Traitor and vote them out so they can take the prize money for themselves.
- 4/29/2022
- by Vlada Gelman
- TVLine.com
Peacock‘s The Best Man: The Final Chapters announce Nicole Ari Parker, Ron Canada, and Tony winner Brandon Victor Dixon is among its recurring guest stars. They join previously announce franchise stars Morris Chesnut, Melissa De Sousa, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrance Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, and Harold Perrineau.
Rounding out the cast are Michael Genet, Yvonna Pearson, Aaron Serotsky, Terrence Terrell, Tobias Truvillion, and Eric Scott Ways.
Parker will play Xiomara Amani, a captivating, high-profile, multi-hyphenate beauty who is sure to disrupt the dynamic of the Best Man crew.
Canada will play Wellington, Quentin’s (Howard) father. He is the patriarch of the family and is uncertain...
Rounding out the cast are Michael Genet, Yvonna Pearson, Aaron Serotsky, Terrence Terrell, Tobias Truvillion, and Eric Scott Ways.
Parker will play Xiomara Amani, a captivating, high-profile, multi-hyphenate beauty who is sure to disrupt the dynamic of the Best Man crew.
Canada will play Wellington, Quentin’s (Howard) father. He is the patriarch of the family and is uncertain...
- 4/29/2022
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Three friends find themselves in possession of narcotics in a lightly satirical Risky Business-style caper
Credit is due to writer/director Rick Famuyiwa (who shared an NAACP Image award with Michael Genet for their Talk to Me script) for going against the grain with this comedic tale of three friends from a tough La neighbourhood whose unfashionable interests include filling in college applications, playing in a punky guitar band and listening to shiny 90s beats or, as the film puts it, “shit white people like”.
A contrived quirk of fate involving a shootout and a bag of drugs sets our antiheroes on a Risky Business-lite venture into the underworld, but it’s their doggedly alternative sensibilities that really tickle Famuyiwa’s fancy. Shameik Moore, Kiersey Clemons and Tony Revolori (last seen wearing a bellboy uniform in The Grand Budapest Hotel) make for divertingly offbeat company, while the film...
Credit is due to writer/director Rick Famuyiwa (who shared an NAACP Image award with Michael Genet for their Talk to Me script) for going against the grain with this comedic tale of three friends from a tough La neighbourhood whose unfashionable interests include filling in college applications, playing in a punky guitar band and listening to shiny 90s beats or, as the film puts it, “shit white people like”.
A contrived quirk of fate involving a shootout and a bag of drugs sets our antiheroes on a Risky Business-lite venture into the underworld, but it’s their doggedly alternative sensibilities that really tickle Famuyiwa’s fancy. Shameik Moore, Kiersey Clemons and Tony Revolori (last seen wearing a bellboy uniform in The Grand Budapest Hotel) make for divertingly offbeat company, while the film...
- 9/6/2015
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Talk to Me". Again demonstrating why he's one of the most versatile actors around, Don Cheadle gives another prize-worthy performance as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr., the irrepressible radio DJ whose keepin'-it-real style made him a trusted voice on the airwaves during the turbulent late '60s and early '70s.
While his fearlessly robust performance absolutely galvanizes "Talk to Me", it's not the only thing that makes Kasi Lemmons' third feature such a pleasure to take in. Similarly commanding performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Hustle & Flow's" Taraji P. Henson, plus an energetic script by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, vividly bring this biopic to life.
Following its Los Angeles Film Festival kick-off, the Focus Features film will be opening in limited release July 13, but enthusiastic word-of-mouth could ensure that audiences will tune in right up to the start of awards season.
We first see Petey Greene spinning the Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke platters within the confines of Virginia's Lorton Prison, where he puts his "Ph.D. in poverty" to use telling it like it is to his fellow inmates.
It's there he meets the decidedly buttoned-down Dewey Hughes (the always intriguing Ejiofor), the program director for Washington, D.C.'s R&B station, WOL-AM, who's visiting his estranged, incarcerated brother (Mike Epps).
Pestering Hughes for an on-air job when he gets out of the can, Petey and his bubbly, take-no-prisoners girlfriend (a terrific Henson) make good on their threat to show up at his decidedly corporate station one day, refusing to take no for an answer.
Eventually wearing Hughes down enough to give him a shot behind the mike, Petey and his plain-speaking style instantly light up the phone lines at the station, where WOL owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), knowing a ratings-booster when he sees one, hands Greene the coveted morning shift.
But Petey proves to be more than just a colorful radio personality. In the aftermath of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination he was the calming voice of reason for legions of listeners seeking immediate justice.
Looking to tap into his potential, Hughes becomes his manager, landing Petey his own TV show as well as stand-up gigs leading to an ill-fated appearance on "The Tonight Show".
Petey's subsequent downward spiral is a trajectory well-traveled by the biopic, and although it robs the film of that spirited comic zip found in the picture's first half, director Lemmons orchestrates the tonal shift with a refreshingly minimal amount of purposefulness, working from an effervescent script by Genet (whose father was Dewey Hughes) and Famuyiwa ("The Wood").
In addition to mining exceptional performances from Cheadle, Ejiofor and Henson, who creates another indelible performance here, Lemmons does well by bright turns from Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer and real-life husband Vondie Curtis Hall, the latter two planning a pair of WOR on-air personalities.
Also keeping it real are those rich period touches contributed by production designer Warren Alan Young and costume designer Gersha Phillips, whose fabulous creations for Henson appear to have come directly from the blaxploitation attic.
Completing the desired effect is Terence Blanchard's mood-altering, jazzy score and a Top 40s worth of golden soul oldies, highlighted by Cooke's ever-poignant "A Change Is Gonna Come".
TALK TO ME
Focus Features
A Focus Features and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment presentation of a Mark Gordon Co./Pelagius Films production
Credits:
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Screenwriters: Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa
Producers: Mark Gordon, Sidney Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin
Executive producers: William Horberg, J. Miles Dale, Joey Rappa, Bruce Toll, Don Cheadle
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Production designer: Warren Alan Young
Music: Terence Blanchard
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Cast:
Petey Greene: Don Cheadle
Dewey Hughes: Chiwetel Ejiofor
"Nighthawk" Bob Terry: Cedric the Entertainer
Vernell Watson: Taraji P. Henson
Milo Hughes: Mike Epps
Sunny Jim Kelsey: Vondie Curtis Hall
E. G. Sonderling: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
While his fearlessly robust performance absolutely galvanizes "Talk to Me", it's not the only thing that makes Kasi Lemmons' third feature such a pleasure to take in. Similarly commanding performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Hustle & Flow's" Taraji P. Henson, plus an energetic script by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, vividly bring this biopic to life.
Following its Los Angeles Film Festival kick-off, the Focus Features film will be opening in limited release July 13, but enthusiastic word-of-mouth could ensure that audiences will tune in right up to the start of awards season.
We first see Petey Greene spinning the Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke platters within the confines of Virginia's Lorton Prison, where he puts his "Ph.D. in poverty" to use telling it like it is to his fellow inmates.
It's there he meets the decidedly buttoned-down Dewey Hughes (the always intriguing Ejiofor), the program director for Washington, D.C.'s R&B station, WOL-AM, who's visiting his estranged, incarcerated brother (Mike Epps).
Pestering Hughes for an on-air job when he gets out of the can, Petey and his bubbly, take-no-prisoners girlfriend (a terrific Henson) make good on their threat to show up at his decidedly corporate station one day, refusing to take no for an answer.
Eventually wearing Hughes down enough to give him a shot behind the mike, Petey and his plain-speaking style instantly light up the phone lines at the station, where WOL owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), knowing a ratings-booster when he sees one, hands Greene the coveted morning shift.
But Petey proves to be more than just a colorful radio personality. In the aftermath of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination he was the calming voice of reason for legions of listeners seeking immediate justice.
Looking to tap into his potential, Hughes becomes his manager, landing Petey his own TV show as well as stand-up gigs leading to an ill-fated appearance on "The Tonight Show".
Petey's subsequent downward spiral is a trajectory well-traveled by the biopic, and although it robs the film of that spirited comic zip found in the picture's first half, director Lemmons orchestrates the tonal shift with a refreshingly minimal amount of purposefulness, working from an effervescent script by Genet (whose father was Dewey Hughes) and Famuyiwa ("The Wood").
In addition to mining exceptional performances from Cheadle, Ejiofor and Henson, who creates another indelible performance here, Lemmons does well by bright turns from Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer and real-life husband Vondie Curtis Hall, the latter two planning a pair of WOR on-air personalities.
Also keeping it real are those rich period touches contributed by production designer Warren Alan Young and costume designer Gersha Phillips, whose fabulous creations for Henson appear to have come directly from the blaxploitation attic.
Completing the desired effect is Terence Blanchard's mood-altering, jazzy score and a Top 40s worth of golden soul oldies, highlighted by Cooke's ever-poignant "A Change Is Gonna Come".
TALK TO ME
Focus Features
A Focus Features and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment presentation of a Mark Gordon Co./Pelagius Films production
Credits:
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Screenwriters: Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa
Producers: Mark Gordon, Sidney Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin
Executive producers: William Horberg, J. Miles Dale, Joey Rappa, Bruce Toll, Don Cheadle
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Production designer: Warren Alan Young
Music: Terence Blanchard
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Cast:
Petey Greene: Don Cheadle
Dewey Hughes: Chiwetel Ejiofor
"Nighthawk" Bob Terry: Cedric the Entertainer
Vernell Watson: Taraji P. Henson
Milo Hughes: Mike Epps
Sunny Jim Kelsey: Vondie Curtis Hall
E. G. Sonderling: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Talk to Me". Again demonstrating why he's one of the most versatile actors around, Don Cheadle gives another prize-worthy performance as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr., the irrepressible radio DJ whose keepin'-it-real style made him a trusted voice on the airwaves during the turbulent late '60s and early '70s.
While his fearlessly robust performance absolutely galvanizes "Talk to Me", it's not the only thing that makes Kasi Lemmons' third feature such a pleasure to take in. Similarly commanding performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Hustle & Flow's" Taraji P. Henson, plus an energetic script by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, vividly bring this biopic to life.
Following its Los Angeles Film Festival kick-off, the Focus Features film will be opening in limited release July 13, but enthusiastic word-of-mouth could ensure that audiences will tune in right up to the start of awards season.
We first see Petey Greene spinning the Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke platters within the confines of Virginia's Lorton Prison, where he puts his "Ph.D. in poverty" to use telling it like it is to his fellow inmates.
It's there he meets the decidedly buttoned-down Dewey Hughes (the always intriguing Ejiofor), the program director for Washington, D.C.'s R&B station, WOL-AM, who's visiting his estranged, incarcerated brother (Mike Epps).
Pestering Hughes for an on-air job when he gets out of the can, Petey and his bubbly, take-no-prisoners girlfriend (a terrific Henson) make good on their threat to show up at his decidedly corporate station one day, refusing to take no for an answer.
Eventually wearing Hughes down enough to give him a shot behind the mike, Petey and his plain-speaking style instantly light up the phone lines at the station, where WOL owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), knowing a ratings-booster when he sees one, hands Greene the coveted morning shift.
But Petey proves to be more than just a colorful radio personality. In the aftermath of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination he was the calming voice of reason for legions of listeners seeking immediate justice.
Looking to tap into his potential, Hughes becomes his manager, landing Petey his own TV show as well as stand-up gigs leading to an ill-fated appearance on "The Tonight Show".
Petey's subsequent downward spiral is a trajectory well-traveled by the biopic, and although it robs the film of that spirited comic zip found in the picture's first half, director Lemmons orchestrates the tonal shift with a refreshingly minimal amount of purposefulness, working from an effervescent script by Genet (whose father was Dewey Hughes) and Famuyiwa ("The Wood").
In addition to mining exceptional performances from Cheadle, Ejiofor and Henson, who creates another indelible performance here, Lemmons does well by bright turns from Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer and real-life husband Vondie Curtis Hall, the latter two planning a pair of WOR on-air personalities.
Also keeping it real are those rich period touches contributed by production designer Warren Alan Young and costume designer Gersha Phillips, whose fabulous creations for Henson appear to have come directly from the blaxploitation attic.
Completing the desired effect is Terence Blanchard's mood-altering, jazzy score and a Top 40s worth of golden soul oldies, highlighted by Cooke's ever-poignant "A Change Is Gonna Come".
TALK TO ME
Focus Features
A Focus Features and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment presentation of a Mark Gordon Co./Pelagius Films production
Credits:
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Screenwriters: Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa
Producers: Mark Gordon, Sidney Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin
Executive producers: William Horberg, J. Miles Dale, Joey Rappa, Bruce Toll, Don Cheadle
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Production designer: Warren Alan Young
Music: Terence Blanchard
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Cast:
Petey Greene: Don Cheadle
Dewey Hughes: Chiwetel Ejiofor
"Nighthawk" Bob Terry: Cedric the Entertainer
Vernell Watson: Taraji P. Henson
Milo Hughes: Mike Epps
Sunny Jim Kelsey: Vondie Curtis Hall
E. G. Sonderling: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
While his fearlessly robust performance absolutely galvanizes "Talk to Me", it's not the only thing that makes Kasi Lemmons' third feature such a pleasure to take in. Similarly commanding performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Hustle & Flow's" Taraji P. Henson, plus an energetic script by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, vividly bring this biopic to life.
Following its Los Angeles Film Festival kick-off, the Focus Features film will be opening in limited release July 13, but enthusiastic word-of-mouth could ensure that audiences will tune in right up to the start of awards season.
We first see Petey Greene spinning the Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke platters within the confines of Virginia's Lorton Prison, where he puts his "Ph.D. in poverty" to use telling it like it is to his fellow inmates.
It's there he meets the decidedly buttoned-down Dewey Hughes (the always intriguing Ejiofor), the program director for Washington, D.C.'s R&B station, WOL-AM, who's visiting his estranged, incarcerated brother (Mike Epps).
Pestering Hughes for an on-air job when he gets out of the can, Petey and his bubbly, take-no-prisoners girlfriend (a terrific Henson) make good on their threat to show up at his decidedly corporate station one day, refusing to take no for an answer.
Eventually wearing Hughes down enough to give him a shot behind the mike, Petey and his plain-speaking style instantly light up the phone lines at the station, where WOL owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), knowing a ratings-booster when he sees one, hands Greene the coveted morning shift.
But Petey proves to be more than just a colorful radio personality. In the aftermath of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination he was the calming voice of reason for legions of listeners seeking immediate justice.
Looking to tap into his potential, Hughes becomes his manager, landing Petey his own TV show as well as stand-up gigs leading to an ill-fated appearance on "The Tonight Show".
Petey's subsequent downward spiral is a trajectory well-traveled by the biopic, and although it robs the film of that spirited comic zip found in the picture's first half, director Lemmons orchestrates the tonal shift with a refreshingly minimal amount of purposefulness, working from an effervescent script by Genet (whose father was Dewey Hughes) and Famuyiwa ("The Wood").
In addition to mining exceptional performances from Cheadle, Ejiofor and Henson, who creates another indelible performance here, Lemmons does well by bright turns from Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer and real-life husband Vondie Curtis Hall, the latter two planning a pair of WOR on-air personalities.
Also keeping it real are those rich period touches contributed by production designer Warren Alan Young and costume designer Gersha Phillips, whose fabulous creations for Henson appear to have come directly from the blaxploitation attic.
Completing the desired effect is Terence Blanchard's mood-altering, jazzy score and a Top 40s worth of golden soul oldies, highlighted by Cooke's ever-poignant "A Change Is Gonna Come".
TALK TO ME
Focus Features
A Focus Features and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment presentation of a Mark Gordon Co./Pelagius Films production
Credits:
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Screenwriters: Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa
Producers: Mark Gordon, Sidney Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin
Executive producers: William Horberg, J. Miles Dale, Joey Rappa, Bruce Toll, Don Cheadle
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Production designer: Warren Alan Young
Music: Terence Blanchard
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Cast:
Petey Greene: Don Cheadle
Dewey Hughes: Chiwetel Ejiofor
"Nighthawk" Bob Terry: Cedric the Entertainer
Vernell Watson: Taraji P. Henson
Milo Hughes: Mike Epps
Sunny Jim Kelsey: Vondie Curtis Hall
E. G. Sonderling: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Again demonstrating why he's one of the most versatile actors around, Don Cheadle gives another prize-worthy performance as Ralph Waldo Petey Greene Jr., the irrepressible radio DJ whose keepin'-it-real style made him a trusted voice on the airwaves during the turbulent late '60s and early '70s.
While his fearlessly robust performance absolutely galvanizes Talk to Me, it's not the only thing that makes Kasi Lemmons' third feature such a pleasure to take in. Similarly commanding performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Hustle & Flow's" Taraji P. Henson, plus an energetic script by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, vividly bring this biopic to life.
Following its Los Angeles Film Festival kick-off, the Focus Features film will be opening in limited release July 13, but enthusiastic word-of-mouth could ensure that audiences will tune in right up to the start of awards season.
We first see Petey Greene spinning the Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke platters within the confines of Virginia's Lorton Prison, where he puts his Ph.D. in poverty to use telling it like it is to his fellow inmates.
It's there he meets the decidedly buttoned-down Dewey Hughes (the always intriguing Ejiofor), the program director for Washington, D.C.'s R&B station, WOL-AM, who's visiting his estranged, incarcerated brother (Mike Epps).
Pestering Hughes for an on-air job when he gets out of the can, Petey and his bubbly, take-no-prisoners girlfriend (a terrific Henson) make good on their threat to show up at his decidedly corporate station one day, refusing to take no for an answer.
Eventually wearing Hughes down enough to give him a shot behind the mike, Petey and his plain-speaking style instantly light up the phone lines at the station, where WOL owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), knowing a ratings-booster when he sees one, hands Greene the coveted morning shift.
But Petey proves to be more than just a colorful radio personality. In the aftermath of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination he was the calming voice of reason for legions of listeners seeking immediate justice.
Looking to tap into his potential, Hughes becomes his manager, landing Petey his own TV show as well as stand-up gigs leading to an ill-fated appearance on The Tonight Show.
Petey's subsequent downward spiral is a trajectory well-traveled by the biopic, and although it robs the film of that spirited comic zip found in the picture's first half, director Lemmons orchestrates the tonal shift with a refreshingly minimal amount of purposefulness, working from an effervescent script by Genet (whose father was Dewey Hughes) and Famuyiwa (The Wood).
In addition to mining exceptional performances from Cheadle, Ejiofor and Henson, who creates another indelible performance here, Lemmons does well by bright turns from Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer and real-life husband Vondie Curtis Hall, the latter two planning a pair of WOR on-air personalities.
Also keeping it real are those rich period touches contributed by production designer Warren Alan Young and costume designer Gersha Phillips, whose fabulous creations for Henson appear to have come directly from the blaxploitation attic.
Completing the desired effect is Terence Blanchard's mood-altering, jazzy score and a Top 40s worth of golden soul oldies, highlighted by Cooke's ever-poignant A Change Is Gonna Come.
TALK TO ME
Focus Features
A Focus Features and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment presentation of a Mark Gordon Co./Pelagius Films production
Credits:
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Screenwriters: Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa
Producers: Mark Gordon, Sidney Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin
Executive producers: William Horberg, J. Miles Dale, Joey Rappa, Bruce Toll, Don Cheadle
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Production designer: Warren Alan Young
Music: Terence Blanchard
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Cast:
Petey Greene: Don Cheadle
Dewey Hughes: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Nighthawk Bob Terry: Cedric the Entertainer
Vernell Watson: Taraji P. Henson
Milo Hughes: Mike Epps
Sunny Jim Kelsey: Vondie Curtis Hall
E. G. Sonderling: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
While his fearlessly robust performance absolutely galvanizes Talk to Me, it's not the only thing that makes Kasi Lemmons' third feature such a pleasure to take in. Similarly commanding performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Hustle & Flow's" Taraji P. Henson, plus an energetic script by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, vividly bring this biopic to life.
Following its Los Angeles Film Festival kick-off, the Focus Features film will be opening in limited release July 13, but enthusiastic word-of-mouth could ensure that audiences will tune in right up to the start of awards season.
We first see Petey Greene spinning the Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke platters within the confines of Virginia's Lorton Prison, where he puts his Ph.D. in poverty to use telling it like it is to his fellow inmates.
It's there he meets the decidedly buttoned-down Dewey Hughes (the always intriguing Ejiofor), the program director for Washington, D.C.'s R&B station, WOL-AM, who's visiting his estranged, incarcerated brother (Mike Epps).
Pestering Hughes for an on-air job when he gets out of the can, Petey and his bubbly, take-no-prisoners girlfriend (a terrific Henson) make good on their threat to show up at his decidedly corporate station one day, refusing to take no for an answer.
Eventually wearing Hughes down enough to give him a shot behind the mike, Petey and his plain-speaking style instantly light up the phone lines at the station, where WOL owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), knowing a ratings-booster when he sees one, hands Greene the coveted morning shift.
But Petey proves to be more than just a colorful radio personality. In the aftermath of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination he was the calming voice of reason for legions of listeners seeking immediate justice.
Looking to tap into his potential, Hughes becomes his manager, landing Petey his own TV show as well as stand-up gigs leading to an ill-fated appearance on The Tonight Show.
Petey's subsequent downward spiral is a trajectory well-traveled by the biopic, and although it robs the film of that spirited comic zip found in the picture's first half, director Lemmons orchestrates the tonal shift with a refreshingly minimal amount of purposefulness, working from an effervescent script by Genet (whose father was Dewey Hughes) and Famuyiwa (The Wood).
In addition to mining exceptional performances from Cheadle, Ejiofor and Henson, who creates another indelible performance here, Lemmons does well by bright turns from Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer and real-life husband Vondie Curtis Hall, the latter two planning a pair of WOR on-air personalities.
Also keeping it real are those rich period touches contributed by production designer Warren Alan Young and costume designer Gersha Phillips, whose fabulous creations for Henson appear to have come directly from the blaxploitation attic.
Completing the desired effect is Terence Blanchard's mood-altering, jazzy score and a Top 40s worth of golden soul oldies, highlighted by Cooke's ever-poignant A Change Is Gonna Come.
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Focus Features
A Focus Features and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment presentation of a Mark Gordon Co./Pelagius Films production
Credits:
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Screenwriters: Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa
Producers: Mark Gordon, Sidney Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin
Executive producers: William Horberg, J. Miles Dale, Joey Rappa, Bruce Toll, Don Cheadle
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Production designer: Warren Alan Young
Music: Terence Blanchard
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Cast:
Petey Greene: Don Cheadle
Dewey Hughes: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Nighthawk Bob Terry: Cedric the Entertainer
Vernell Watson: Taraji P. Henson
Milo Hughes: Mike Epps
Sunny Jim Kelsey: Vondie Curtis Hall
E. G. Sonderling: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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