Posted on January 9, 2021

SOURCE: Cleveland Scene | Vince Grzegorek
January 9, 2021
The Russo Brothers film adapted from Nico Walker’s best-selling and critically acclaimed novel “Cherry” and filmed in Cleveland finally has a trailer and a release date.
Written by Walker while serving time in federal prison, the book was a semi-autobiographical tale of his time in the army, his resulting PTSD, his spiral into painkiller addiction after returning to Cleveland, and the desperate string of bank robberies he committed afterward to feed his habit.

Posted on January 9, 2021

SOURCE: Collider | Allie Gemmill
December 9, 2020
This week, directors Joe and Anthony Russounveiled the first teaser trailer for Cherry. Tom Holland stars in the genre-bending new movie based on Nico Walker’s novel of the same name. The title Cherry comes from the name of the movie’s protagonist (played by Holland), an army medic who suffers from PTSD following his experiences in the Middle East and comes home only to sink into a dangerous cycle of drug addiction and crime to feed that addiction. Cherry is the big follow-up to Avengers: Endgamefor both the Russo brothers, as well as the first time the director duo and the actor have worked together on a non-MCU movie.

Posted on January 8, 2021

Rocky River native Joey Kinsley is competing in this season of “Worst Cooks in America.” (Photo courtesy Jason DeCrow)
SOURCE: Cleveland.com | Anne Nickoloff
January 8, 2021
ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — One of this season’s “Worst Cooks in America” is from right here in Northeast Ohio.
Rocky River’s Joey Kinsley is a competitor on this season of the popular Food Network program, competing against other fellow chefs to win the grand prize. Currently, he’s made it past one episode of the competitive series.

Posted on January 8, 2021

SOURCE: Variety | Clayton Davis
January 8, 2021
Tom Holland takes on his most serious role so far in Anthony and Joe Russo’s “Cherry,” the filmmakers’ first outing following the box office smash “Avengers: Endgame.” Before a virtual crowd of journalists and industry voters, the film was screened with a live conversation with the cast and filmmakers moderated by Oscar nominee and “Iron Man” star Robert Downey Jr.

Posted on January 8, 2021

SOURCE: Deadline.com | Pete Hammond
January 8, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Joe Russo and Anthony Russo helped me launch the new season of my Deadline video series, Behind The Lens, as we give you the first-ever look at their new epic movie, Cherry and cover the waterfront on a number of different topics including the very future of movies themselves.

Posted on January 5, 2021

SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly | Andrew Lawrence
January 5, 2021
EXCLUSIVE – When it comes to emotional scene work, LaKeith Stanfield’s method is to retreat into silence. Something about it sends his mind racing to call up every dark moment, difficult loss, and deep-seated sadness. But on Dec. 4, 2019, things got a little too quiet for the Atlanta star on the Cleveland set of Judas and the Black Messiah, the bravura first studio film from director Shaka King that rehashes the state-sanctioned killing of 21-year-old Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton. On the docket was a scene that called for Stanfield, who plays a college-age FBI informant named William O’Neal, to betray an unwitting Hampton during a Last Supper-type party at the chairman’s home, hours before Chicago police would storm in (on O’Neal’s intel) and pockmark the place — and Hampton — in a hail of bullets. The hush that came over the set that day was palpable.

Posted on December 30, 2020

Courtesy of Warner Bros.
SOURCE: Variety | Clayton Davis
December 30, 2020
One of the final shoes to drop on the awards season is Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Starring Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield, the official category submissions for the upcoming Oscars have been named. Kaluuya, who portrays Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, will campaign for best supporting actor while Stanfield, as FBI informant Bill O’Neal, will seek consideration in best actor. The film will also feature an original song titled “Fight for You,” written by Grammy winner H.E.R., Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas.

Posted on December 29, 2020

SOURCE: Screenrant | Rachel Labonte
December 29, 2020
Tom Holland’s Cherry is labeled as a junkie and more in these new and improved character posters. Holland’s latest collaboration with his Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo will take a noted step away from the comic book universe that brought them together. In Cherry, an adaptation of Nico Walker’s novel of the same name, Holland plays a PTSD-riddled army vet who turns to bank robbing to support his opioid addiction upon returning home. Described as multiple movies in one, Cherry looks to catapult Holland, who is best known for playing Spider-Man in the MCU, into brand new territory.

Posted on December 23, 2020

ROGER MASTROIANNI
SOURCE: Crain’s Cleveland Business | Scott Suttell
December 23, 2020
Playhouse Square CEO Gina Vernaci is quoted in this Bloomberg article about the impact of Congress approving about $15 billion in grants to the arts and entertainment industry.
The bipartisan provision, dubbed SOS for “Save Our Stages,” was written by U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, and it’s included in the stimulus package that Congress passed on Monday, Dec. 21, that President Donald Trump now says he wants to rework to get larger checks to Americans. (The SOS provision is likely to stay in any revision, but who knows these days.)

Posted on December 22, 2020

Warner Bros
SOURCE: Deadline.com | Anthony D’Alessandro
December 22, 2020
Warner Bros. drama Judas and the Black Messiah about Fred Hampton, the Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman who was betrayed by FBI informant William O’Neal, will open on Feb. 12, 2021 in both theaters and on HBO Max.
The studio is planning to push the Shaka King directed feature for the current 2020-21 awards season. The pic stars Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton and LaKeith Stanfield as William O’Neal. A career thief, O’Neal revels in the danger of manipulating both his comrades and his handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). Hampton’s political prowess grows just as he’s falling in love with fellow revolutionary Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback). Meanwhile, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul. Will he align with the forces of good? Or subdue Hampton and The Panthers by any means, as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) commands?
