My Publicist Note Book

Former president Jimmy Carter was awarded the O’Connor Justice Prize by the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel Friday night. Carter, 92, is this year's recipient of the O'Connor Justice Prize, an annual award named after retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Carter was given the award for humanitarian service during and after his presidency in the first time the award has been given since the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law moved to downtown Phoenix. Carter accepted the award following an introduction from former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals’ District of Columbia circuit Patricia Wald. Wald was appointed to the court originally in 1979 by then-President Carter.In a clear, powerful voice with distinctive Georgia accent, Carter said he didn’t always agree with Ronald Reagan but that placing O’Connor on the nation's high court “was the best decision he ever made.” Carter did not give media in...

The absolute best of television and movie acting! The Screen Actors Guild Awards are sometimes dismissed as just another stop on the long road to the Oscars—but Sunday night’s ceremony was anything but business as usual. Though the evening crowned a few widely predicted victors—Emma Stone, Viola Davis, two cast members from. . . The Crown—a trio of unexpected winners stole the show near the end of the slightly over-long broadcast. Though Claire Foy and John Lithgow both won individual statuettes for their work on Netflix’s splashy Queen Elizabeth epic, another Netflix show ended up winning the prize for best drama series: Stranger Things, the streaming service’s nostalgia-soaked summer hit. Lily Tomlin accepts the 2016 SAG Life Achievement Award onstage during The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. 53rd Annual SAG Life Achievement Award It was the final two film categories, though, that re...

Watch Laurence Fishburne Play Nelson Mandela In New ‘Madiba’ Clip BET has released a teaser trailer from its forthcoming miniseries on  Nelson Mandela . Titled  Madiba , the almost two-minute clip finds Mandela (portrayed by  Laurence Fishburne ) preparing for a moment that became an integral part of his historical fight against apartheid — the burning of his pass book in front of law enforcement. Inspired by two Mandela autobiographies ( Conversations with Myself  and  Nelson  Mandela by Himself ),  Madiba  will tell the story of the politician and revolutionary as he fought for freedom in South Africa, while also celebrating Mandela’s lesser known allies and supporters. The six-hour miniseries was filmed exclusively in South Africa and on Robben Island and will be separated into three parts. “The six hours really gave us an opportunity to explore what the movement was about. Obviously, Nelson was at the center. I...

SCRIPTED AUDIO DRAMA “BRONZEVILLE” EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY AND STARRING LAURENCE FISHBURNE AND LARENZ TATE, SET TO PREMIERE ON MULTIPLE DIGITAL AUDIO PLATFORMS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7 LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Cinema Gypsy Productions and TateMen Entertainment alongside AudioHQ are set to release the 10-episode scripted audio drama, “Bronzeville,” an unparalleled look into Chicago’s “policy” games of the 1940’s, on Tuesday February 7, 2017. The audio series will premiere hour-long episodes every Tuesday on digital platforms including Spotify, the Podcasts app and iTunes for Apple customers, GlobalGrind, Radio One Digital, SoundCloud, TuneIn and Google Play with new content debuting through April 11, 2017. The audio drama is presented by GEICO, Blue Apron, Quicken Loans, and Viceland. Written by Academy Award® and BAFTA nominee Josh Olson (A History of Violence), “ Bronzeville ” will chronicle the lives of players in the lottery games while illuminating the self-sustainability of...

LOS ANGELES — Oscar voters showered the neo-musical “La La Land” with 14 nominations on Tuesday, a tie with “Titanic” and “All About Eve” for the most in Academy Award history. But the academy also moved past two #OscarsSoWhite years by honoring six black actors — a record — and including diverse films like “Moonlight,” “Fences” and “Hidden Figures” in the best picture race. [  The list of nominees  ] Nine movies will compete for Hollywood’s top prize, including several box-office hits. Joining “La La Land” and “Moonlight” (eight nominations total), “Fences” (four), and “Hidden Figures” (three) in the best picture race were “Arrival,” a science-fiction thriller; the cops-and-robbers drama “Hell or High Water”; the subtitled tear-jerker “Lion”; “Manchester by the Sea,” about a mournful New England handyman; and “Hacksaw Ridge,” Mel Gibson’s true story of World War II heroism. INTERACTIVE FEATURE 2017 Oscar Ballot See this year’s Oscar nominees and make...

On Tuesday, the  Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences  announced the nominees for the 89th annual Academy Awards   The Oscars   are the final and biggest award show of the season, culminating in a massive display of all the glitz and glamour we’ve come to associate with Hollywood . Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs was joined by Demian Bichir, Dustin Lance Black, Glenn Close, Guillermo del Toro, Marcia Gay Harden, Terrence Howard, Jennifer Hudson, Brie Larson, Jason Reitman, Gabourey Sidibe, and Ken Watanabe to announce the nominees in 24 categories,  filmed in six cities around the globe . Best picture: “Arrival” “Fences” “Hacksaw Ridge” “Hell or High Water” “Hidden Figures” “La La Land” “Lion” “Manchester by the Sea” “Moonlight” Lead actor: Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea” Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge” Ryan Gosling, “La La Land,” Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic” Denzel Washington, “Fences” Lead actress: Isabelle H...