Black Excellence within the Black Experience of TV and Film
The actors behind Ali’s parents on filling history’s blank pages, and how a cast of Southern kids became a real family History remembers Muhammad Ali in staggering detail. It barely remembers the two people who raised him. Cassius “Cash” Clay Sr. and Odessa “Bird” Clay are mostly footnotes in Ali biographies, which left Omari Hardwick […]
“This is not Malcolm’s story.” Ealy and Parham on brotherhood, mentorship and the self-doubt behind the swagger Before he was the Greatest, he was somebody’s little brother’s hero and somebody’s protégé. In The Greatest, those two relationships carry the story’s quietest weight. Kai Parham plays Rudy Clay, later Rahman Ali, the younger brother who sparred […]
Every Muhammad Ali story runs into the same problem: how do you play a man the whole world already knows by heart? The voice, the poetry, the tilt of the head before a punchline: Ali performed himself so completely that any imitation risks becoming a costume. Prime Video’s The Greatest, premiering November 4, takes on […]
Joseph plays Liston in Prime Video’s The Greatest, the first authorized scripted series about Ali, premiering November 4. Created by Ben Watkins, the eight-episode first season traces Clay’s rise from his 1960 Olympic gold in Rome to the 1964 night he took Liston’s heavyweight title and shocked the world. Jaalen Best stars as Ali, alongside […]
Spoiler warning: this interview covers Reasonable Doubt Season 4 through episode 6. When we last saw Jax Stewart, she looked like she’d won. In Season 3 she took on the defense of Ozzie Edwards, a former child star accused of murder, uncovered the abuse he’d suffered in silence for years, and got him acquitted. Then […]
What would you do if you found out your partner was a serial killer? And if your daughter was dating a killer’s son, how far would you go to protect her? For Bokeem Woodbine, the answer is clear. Somebody might be going missing. The actor and Nona Parker Johnson are stepping into the twisted world […]
In 1972, filmmaker William Greaves did something no history book could: he gathered the surviving legends of the Harlem Renaissance in Duke Ellington’s Harlem home, poured the drinks, and let the cameras roll. Painters, poets, journalists, and musicians who hadn’t seen each other in decades laughed, argued, and remembered the movement they built together. Then […]
Let me just say it first: I loved it. 10 out of 10. I’ll be back every year Imani and her team will have me. The purpose of a conference or convention, to me, is to give you the opportunity to be in a room with people you would not normally be around on a […]
She’s one of the most recognizable faces in Black television. He’s the first African American screenwriter to write a $100 million blockbuster. Together, they’re building something most people in Hollywood told them couldn’t sell. Erika Alexander and Tony Puryear sit down to talk about Concrete Park, the sci-fi graphic novel series they’ve been building together […]
⚠️ Spoiler alert: This interview discusses Crew Girl Season 1. When Thomas Cadrot taped his audition for Netflix’s Crew Girl, he felt good about the work. What he didn’t feel good about were his chances. “My first reaction, honestly, was they’re gonna give this to a white dude,” he says. “When’s the last time you’ve […]