HBO is taking on a pivotal moment in the history of the Americasgerolmo with Cortes, a high-profile drama series in development. It is being written/executive produced by Mississippi Burning scribe Chris Gerolmo, directed/executive produced by Martin Scorsese and executive produced by Benicio Del Toro who is interested in starring as the Aztec conqueror.
Cortes will tell the sweepincortesmontezumag story of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who brought down the Aztec empire; Malinche, the Mayan girl who helped him do it; and Montezuma, the Aztec leader he befriended and finally put in chains.
The subject matter has the makings of a compelling drama as Cortés’ legacy is a complex one. On one hand, he won Mexico for Spain and extended the Spanish Empire. But from the indigenous’ point of view, he was a mass murderer who spearheaded the destruction of one of the greatest civilizations of that time.
In TV, Gerolmo previously co-created with Steven Bochco the FX Iraq drama series Over There and most recently worked on the network’s U.S.-Mexico-border drama The Bridge. He is repped by ICM Partners and Jackoway Tyerman.
This would be the latest Latin American historical figure portrayal for Del Toro who toplined Escobar: Paradise Lost and Steven Soderbergh’s Che. In addition to Escobar, CAA-repped Del Toro is coming off his role as The Collector in the summer blockbuster The Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Source: Deadline
X-Men: Apocalypse is set to introduce some more younger versions of well-known characters, with rumours suggesting that Fox is looking to recast Jean Grey and Scott Summers.
According to The Wrap, Chloë Grace Moretz is the studio's pick to play the young Jean, with Hailee Steinfeld and Elle Fanning also thought to be in the running.
Moretz and Fanning have apparently already met with director Bryan Singer regarding the role, which will likely involve a commitment across a number of forthcoming films.
Meanwhile, the report suggests that the studio may opt for a newcomer to play Cyclops, with Ben Hardy, Charlie Rowe and Timothée Chalamet all said to be under consideration.
Directed by Singer, and co-starring the returning James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence, X-Men: Apocalypse will open on 19 May 2016.
"12 Years a Slave" director Steve McQueen's next feature film will be about black American icon Paul Robeson, as revealed in The Guardian today. McQueen, who won the Best Picture Oscar for "12 Years" earlier this year, said this is the dream movie he wanted to make after the brutal IRA striker drama "Hunger" (2008).
"But I didn’t have the power, I didn’t have the juice," he told a New York audience at the Hidden Heroes awards, honoring civil rights activists murdered by the KKK in the 1960s.
McQueen has wanted to tell the story of Robeson— singer, actor and activist whose father escaped slavery and who shepherded anti-imperialist movements that landed on the McCarthy blacklist—since he was a teenager. One of the director's previous artworks, a digitally projected ream of documents entitled "End Credits," tributed Robeson in 2012.
Recent Governors Awards honoree Harry Belafonte is apparently involved in the Robeson film project. No further details yet, but we do know McQueen his HBO drama "Codes of Conduct" starring Devon Terrell is currently in the works.
His name is Konstantin De Winter and he is a producer/singer/songwriter from Belgium working under the alias "Calfskin" primarily in the indie synthpop/new wave genre. Over the years his work has been compared most of all to Depeche Mode, however it's also influenced by such major synthpop/new wave artists as Pet Shop Boys, OMD, New Order etc.
Here’s the clip
Bella Union are delighted to announce the signing of hotly-tipped Manchester-based electronic-pop duo BERNARD + EDITH. Already firmly established within the city's underground music scene, Greta 'Edith' Carroll and Nick 'Bernard' Delap draw on influences ranging from Fever Fay and Portishead via Cocteau Twins, David Lynch and Kate Bush to create the most deliciously dark art-pop/soul. Earlier this year the band released their debut single 'Poppy' on the excellent SWAYS Records to much acclaim.
Ahead of their performance at the Lexington tonight supporting labelmates Ballet School, Bernard + Edith have just unveiled an inventive and atmospheric video to WURDS, their hypnotic first single for Bella Union.
Bernard + Edith will be playing a single launch show at the Eagle in Manchester on Wednesday 3rd December.
Fellow Manchester-based artist Jamie Lee of the band MONEY has penned the below idiosyncratic bio-cum-tribute to Bernard + Edith:
“Perhaps Bernard and Edith would think that what I'm about to say is going too far. But I remember drinking with vocalist Edith in a bar in Manchester and talking about how her and Bernard come to creating their songs. Edith observed: "Rather than say 'let's go out' or 'let's watch TV' I say, 'should we make a cheeky song?' And he says 'Alright then'." And that laughter I've come to know so well erupts from her maniacally, childishly, freely.
Edith's singing style reminds me of the kind of emancipatory freedom of the modern American school of writing. Her melodies are uninhibited by traditional rules of structure - she moves where and when she feels the impulse to; and knowing the woman behind the voice I see that the impulse in her can be as chaotic as it is beguiling. She is like a bouquet balanced precariously on the edge of a table unsure of whether it will fall and break - hinged between extreme goodness and feeling on the one hand and on the other, chaos and perhaps even madness. Lyrically, again, the comparison is relevant: "cos poppy says she loves me and I'm feeling right" is as naked, unpretentious and brave as the revolutionary poet Robert Lowell's assertion; "why not say what happened?" that triggered his confessional movement producing and influencing writers from Sylvia Plath to Anne Sexton - a place where the uncompromisingly personal and high-art met in the middle. This applies to Bernard and Edith too. A place explored by Daniel Johnston and Arthur Russell - it is the artful balance between a highly private expression and having the skill and intelligence to communicate that to the world. It is testing the limits of what a person can say within their art but also lends a universality to their language and style. Having mentioned these artists, there is clearly a strongly cathartic drive to why Bernard and Edith even exist at all - it is art being made for the right reasons - for the love of it! It is esoteric but never indulgent, original but not reactionary or avant-garde, otherworldly but unpretentious.
It is my belief that whatever art is, it is the direct opposite of whatever money is. It is made by the maker to save oneself briefly from the inevitable and in doing so (where the craft comes in) may end up saving other people briefly too. Bernard + Edith make their music from home and (I cannot help but feel) predominantly for each other - a kind of covenant to their particular and special bond.”
WURDS will be released 1st December on Bella Union.
