Actress Nia Long — a veteran of Black Hollywood — has slammed pop stars and rap acts who try to launch film careers – insisting they should stick to what they know.
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Paramount’s Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is making a killing at the box office, but the sequel to 2007’s blockbuster has fallen under fire for featuring two shape-shifting robots as “racial stereotypes,” according to The Associated Press. Read the rest of this entry »

Naturi Naughton wasn’t even born when the original ‘Fame’ hit theaters in 1980, but the former 3LW star — whose breasts made major waves in the Biggie biopic Notorious — is lending her voice to the recently-revamped Fame, the Oscar-winning title song made famous by Irene Cara in the original box office hit.

The singer/actress is also taking on a starring role in the new Fame.

“The pressure is on,” the 25-year-old says of her role in the upcoming remake. “But to me, it’s an opportunity. For me, I looked at it as, ‘Wow! I get to recreate this role that Irene Cara played.’ And I loved Irene Cara, actually. I was a huge fan of her — just her voice, and growing up being a singer, I really, really was excited when I heard that I finally got the part.”

“It was a little bit before my time, I have to say, when the movie came out, but everybody has some memories of ‘Fame,’ like the TV show when I was growing up,” Naturi said of the original Fame in an interview with Entertainment Tonight Wednesday. “I loved Debbie Allen, I knew about ‘Fame’ — and everybody wanted to be a character in it.”

The 2009 remake of Fame opens in theaters September 25.

Fame opens in North American theaters September 25, 2009.

Denzel Washington has given up hope that he will ever play the nation’s first Black president on the big screen – because he fears he is “too old” for the role.

The 54-year-old Oscar winner would like to play Barack Obama, 47, in a film but fears it will be many years before the president’s life is made into a movie.

He says, “When Obama’s story is ready to be told I’ll be too old to do it. And if it were made now, he has too much to do to have me asking for tips on how to play him.”

Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson has joined the cast of the upcoming remake of the popular 1984 film The Karate Kid.

The star — who played Queenie in the hit 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button star, has been cast as the mom to Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith’s son Jaden in The Kung Fu Kid, which will also star Jackie Chan, MTV News has learned.

The movie, produced by The Smiths, is set to open theaters in 2010.

The story of Dr. King’s life is finally on its way to the silver screen. Steven Spielberg has signed up to co-produce a Martin Luther King biopic for DreamWorks, according to Variety.

“We are all honored that the King estate is giving us the opportunity to tell the story of these defining, historic events,” Spielberg to the trade paper this week. “It is our hope that the creative power of film and the impact of Dr. King’s life can combine to present a story of undeniable power that we can all be proud of.”

50 Cent and Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker have signed up to star in a new adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic 19th century novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The pair will play the lead roles in the classic tale about a doctor who invents a potion that can unleash his violent alter ego.

“The combination of such formidable talent in front of and behind the camera will turn this wonderful gothic story into a modern classic for a whole new generation,” executive producer Luc Roeg told Variety on Thursday.

Lionsgate has released the Official Trailer for its poignant new independent film Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire and directed by Lee Daniels. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award and was one of the most highly praised films at the renowned event.

The film will open in limited theatrical release on November 6, 2009.

Precious stars Mo’Nique, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton, and Gabby Sidibe.

The Princess and the Frog — Disney’s first animated feature fronted by an African-American princess — hits theaters with a limited run in New York and Los Angeles beginning November 25, followed by a wide release on December 11.

Featuring the voices of Anika Noni Rose (as Princess Tiana), Oprah Winfrey, Keith David, Jim Cummings, John Goodman, Jenifer Lewis, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Peter Bartlett and Terrence Howard, The Princess And The Frog is based on E.D. Baker’s novel The Frog Princess.

The Walt Disney Studios continues its fairy tale legacy in animation by taking moviegoers on an all-new “once upon a time” musical adventure. Set in the legendary birthplace of jazz – New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog will introduce the newest Disney princess, Tiana, a young African-American girl living amid the charming elegance and grandeur of the fabled French Quarter. From the heart of Louisiana’s mystical bayous and the banks of the mighty Mississippi comes an unforgettable tale of love, enchantment and discovery with a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells and Cajun charm at every turn.