Reaching #5 in the UK album chart, Alison Moyet's recent album the minutes was hugely well received, being called "her best in decades" by Q, "amazing" by The Quietus and "a musical resurrection" by The Huffington Post. The accompanying tour was equally lauded, with The Times dubbing it "triumphant" and the Evening Standard stating, "she's never been better". The exuberant recordings contain a selection of material from the minutes, plus highlights from Alison's earlier solo and Yaz repertoires. Alison took the minutes tour through Europe, the USA and South Africa, selling over 55,000 tickets and it culminated with a rapturous show at London's Royal Albert Hall. Alison was joined on stage by MD John Garden (keys, guitars and programming) and Sean McGhee (backing vocals, synthesiser, guitar and programming).
"Having worked live for an age with a traditional band line-up, I decided to return to my recording roots and an electronic pallet. This rapprochement begins with my 2013 album the minutes, a body of work I wrote together with its producer Guy Sigsworth, resulting in a collection of material that is entirely pleasing for me to perform live. "As the catalyst for the minutes tour, it enabled me to revisit some of my earlier work, either in the context it was originally intended, or with a new ear. Instead, reworking organic songs into a programmed format rather than the other way around and sparing me the niggling suspicion that I was in danger of inhabiting my own tribute act - which is a relevant consideration when you have been singing some of the songs for 30 something years, and wish still to be engaged." - Alison Moyet
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
