Saturday, March 28, 2015

Casting Info: Great Voice Acting Advice from Andrea Romano & 'Empire' Casting [AUDIO & VIDEO]



Voice director and casting director Andrea Romano chats with host Chris Hardwick about her long career as being a casting director and voice director in animation and working on shows such as Justice League, Batman: The Animated Series, Pinky and The Brain, Animaniacs, The Smurfs and many, many more. 

She also gives her advice for anyone who wants a career in voice acting as well as EXACTLY where you can go to get voice work. She is a legend in the industry, look her up or LISTEN below and you'll see why.

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/nerdist/Nerdist_621_-_Andrea_Romano.mp3Andrea Romano

_____________________________________________
  
CASTING AN EMPIRE

Empire's Casting Director Leah Daniels-Butler (sister of show creator Lee Daniels) talks about how and why she made the casting decisions for the breakout show on the AfterBuzz TV online broadcast network.

In a recent article Daniels-Butler states
"Rather than focus on who is not on ‘Empire’ we should be celebrating the actors who are doing amazing work week after week," Daniels Butler said in a press release. "Fans are in love with Cookie and Lucious because the actors who give life to the characters they portray are delivering award winning performances."

"There so many wonderful people that help make this show a #1, like the fantastic job Jussie Smollet (Jamal Lyons) is doing, and I cannot say enough about Kaitlin Doubleday (Rhonda Lyons) who had the unique challenge of filling a diversity role and does it seamlessly,” she added. “Why not celebrate those people?"

After discovering the likes of Gabourey Sidibe for the lead role in 2009’s “Precious,” Daniels-Butler also went on to praise the “growth” of breakout star Bryshere Y. Gray and applauded the musicianship of the “enormously talented" Ta'Rhonda Jones.—Huffington Post

You can go directly to the segment she talks about here and you can watch the entire show below.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Visually Stunning Film 'Jonah' [VIDEO & REVIEW]

JONAH

Directed by Kibwe Tavares
Written by Jack Thorne

Produced by Ivana MacKinnon, Fiz Oliver
Executive Producers - Katherine Butler, Ollie Madden, Chris Collins, Phil Dobree, Eva Yates

Editor - Adam Biskupsi
Cinematographer - Chloe Thomson
Production Designer: Paul Nicholls & Jonathan Gales
Visual Effects Supervisor: Paul Nicholls

Starring

Daniel Kaluuya
Malachi Kirby
and Louis Mahoney

Synopsis
Mbwana and his best friend Juma are two young men with big dreams. These dreams become reality when they photograph a gigantic fish leaping out of the sea and their small town blossoms into a tourist hot-spot as a result. But for Mbwana, the reality isn't what he dreamed – and when he meets the fish again, both of them forgotten, ruined and old, he decides only one of them can survive.


REVIEW

This visually stunning film is an example of how success can change a community and a friendship. Everyone wants success, but can they handle that success? The film starts out with great humor and excitement and then before your eyes turns into a visual delight.

As the ENTIRE FILM is below my commentary, I don't feel the need to go further. See for yourself. Who said change is good? Be careful watch you wish for.

COMMENTARY
Never even heard of this film before this event tonight


 As a proud AFFRM Maverick I always get notifications of events like this and get to discover pure gems like this film. Founded in 2011, African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement a.k.a. AFFRM is a theatrical distribution entity powered by the nation’s finest black film festival organizations.They have been holding steadfast to pushing and promoting black films like Jonah and I think that is great! I never heard of this film, but because of AFFRM I'm glad I have!

Linked below are many of the posts about AFFRM here at the 'Nother Brother Entertainment blog below the film.




Additional Links
I have written about AFFRM extensively on this blog since its inception. See all the posts here