News Analysis India

Tag: Issa Rae

  • Issa Rae to receive Producers Guild’s Visionary Award

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced that actor-producer Issa Rae will be honoured with the 2022 Visionary Award.

    According to a press release issued by the PGA, Rae will receive the award at the 33rd Annual Producers Guild Awards on March 19, 2022, at the Fairmont Century Plaza.

    The Visionary Award honours producers across television, film or new media who share inspiring, uplifting stories that add unique value to society and culture.

    “Issa makes us excited for the future of television.

    “With her series ‘Insecure’, she achieved the highest levels of comedy, perspective and performance possible, and her sharp wit and distinct voice will undoubtedly continue to drive quality entertainment featuring underrepresented voices.

    “Beyond Issa’s prolific work, she is a role model and inspiration to the next generation of creatives through her mentorship programs like ColorCreative, and more recently, Project Greenlight.

    “We are thrilled to honour Issa this year,” PGA presidents Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher said in a statement.

    Rae first garnered attention for her award-winning web series and the accompanying New York Times best-seller, “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.”

    She created and stars in the hit HBO show “Insecure” for which she has received multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

    The actor-writer made her feature film debut with acclaimed drama, “The Hate U Give”.

    Her last few projects were Netflix’s romantic-comedy “The Lovebirds” and the HBO political-satire drama “Coastal Elites”.

    Past recipients of the Visionary Award include Octavia Spencer, Kenya Barris, Ava DuVernay, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner’s Plan B Entertainment, Illumination Entertainment’s Chis Meledandri, Laura Ziskin, and Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll.

  • WATCH | First trailer for ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One’

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Sony Pictures on Sunday, December 5, 2021, released the first look teaser and title of the upcoming animated superhero film ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’.

    The upcoming movie is the sequel to 2018’s Oscar-winning animated superhero film ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ and continues the story of the Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) version of Spider-Man.

    As per Deadline, the title ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ (Part One), unveiled at the Brazil Comic-Con on Sunday, implies the film will serve as the first installation of a two-part sequel.

    This movie will chronicle Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), the hero from the ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, as he groups up with Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), ‘Spider-Man 2099’, and Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) to face off with a powerful super-villain.

    ‘Awkward Black Girl’ star Issa Rae was also confirmed for a voice role back in June, according to Deadline.

    Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Christina Steinberg are returning as producers. Alonzo Ruvalcaba is co-producing. Lord and Miller have also been credited as writers on the film, along with David Callaham.

    ‘Spider-Verse’ director Peter Ramsey is also returning as an executive producer, alongside Aditya Sood.

    The first part is scheduled to release in theatres on October 7, 2022. 

    WATCH TRAILER:

  • Issa Rae opens up about diversity problem in Hollywood projects

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: It’s 2021 and Hollywood still has an inclusion problem. Actor-director Issa Rae has recently spoken out against the issue of lack of diversity in American films and shows.

    In an interview with Mic, Issa took a stroll down the memory lane and recalled how a former co-worker once told her to always include a white character in her TV shows, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

    “She was just like, ‘Girl, if you want this s**t to set off to the next level, you got to put a white character in there, then white people will care about it, then NPR is going to write about your s**t, and it’ll blow up,” Issa said.

    Issa took her advice seriously and added a white character to the cast of ‘Awkward Black Girl’ before it was released in 2011. She once again heeded the advice when she developed ‘Insecure’, which in early seasons featured the character Freida, a white woman and co-worker of Issa Dee’s.

    According to the publication, early iterations of the show heavily featured the character and raised the question for the show’s team of whether Freida should be more heavily included so white viewers could connect.

    “And I was like, F**k no! This is not a show about Freida. That was when I started actively resisting. When Issa quit work and we got rid of the We Got Y’all storyline, I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, our show is just about Black characters now in the most refreshing way’,” she realised.

    Meanwhile, the final season of ‘Insecure’ is scheduled to return this October. 

  • Issa Rae to voice Spider-Woman in ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ sequel

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Actor-producer Issa Rae has come on board the cast of the sequel to 2018’s Oscar-winning animated feature “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” as Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K Thompson will be directing the animated movie.

    Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have penned the screenplay along with David Callaham.

    Lord and Miller are also producing.

    Rae joins returning voice actors Shameik Moore (as main hero Miles Morales) and Hailee Steinfeld (as Gwen Stacy aka Spider-Gwen).

    Original “Spider-Verse” director Peter Ramsey is serving as an executive producer on the project.

    Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Christina Steinberg are also producing.