As previously reported, Tyler Perry will be directing For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. There are rumors of the cast, which might include Taraji P. Henson, Mary J. Blige and others. However, in an interview with Black Voices, Oprah confirmed she was be one of the colored girls.

Tyler Perry mentioned your name for one of the roles in his new film ‘Colored Girls.’ Will you do it?
OW: Yeah, I’m one of them. I don’t even know what lady I am. I haven’t acted in 10 years. We’re going to see. He’s writing a script, and let’s see what happens. I want to see it. I love the idea of getting back to acting. I’m happiest when I’m doing it. Nothing makes me happier than being on set with a movie that I really care about. Acting is fun because you get to move yourself out of your own space and become somebody else. Acting is like a vacation for me. It’s a relief.

For those of you who don’t know, Oprah is an Oscar nominee for The Color Purple and she received critical acclaim for her role in The Women of Brewster Place.

Sounds like Colored Girls is going to be a bonafide hit!

Source

Disney’s first Black princess, Tiana, is hitting theaters in December in The Princess and the Frog.  Disney provided BET.com with an exclusive image of the movie poster.

The voice of Tiana is Tony winner and Dreamgirls star Anika Noni Rose.  Other voices include Jenifer Lewis, Keith David and Oprah Winfrey as the princess’ mother.  As I’ve said before, I haven’t looked forward to a Disney film in years so be sure to check back here at BET.com for more info on the movie.

The Princess and the Frog begins exclusively at the Walt Disney Studios Theater in Burbank and Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on November 25th and arrives in theaters nationwide on December 11th.

Are you looking forward to The Princess and the Frog?

Oprah Winfrey has already said that Lee Daniels‘ Precious is a modern day version of The Color Purple. There is an Oscar buzz for Mo’Nique’s performance. Now, Precious won the People’s Choice prize at the 34th Toronto Film Festival.  According to Variety.com:

Lee Daniels’ inner-city drama, “Precious, Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” nabbed the 34th Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice prize on Saturday.

“Precious,” starring Gabourey Sidibe, attracted mob scenes the likes of which the fest has rarely seen, thanks to producer Oprah Winfrey’s red carpet appearance and promotional push.

With Sundance’s grand jury, aud and acting (Mo’Nique) prizes already in the trophy case, the Lionsgate pic is solidly poised for awards season contention, if the eight-Oscar legacy of Toronto’s 2008 aud winner “Slumdog Millionaire” is any indication.

Precious also makes history as the first film to win the audience awards at Sundance and Toronto.

If Precious managed to snatch up similar awards to Slumdog Millionaire — like Oscars for best director or best movie — it would be a first for a film starring a predominately African-American cast.  As we all know, The Color Purple received eleven nominations and lost all of them.

Congrats again to another award for Precious!

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We’ve all had those moments where we sat through a two hour movie and said, “Why did they do that?  Did they read the script?”  Well, check out some of the worst film catastrophes from your favorite bloggers across on the web.

Star from Stay Tuned says:

Cuba Gooding Jr. in Snow Dogs! I’m all for children’s movies, but that flick definitely makes the list for one of the worst movies of all time. He tried too hard to be funny and hasn’t fully recovered yet. However, I liked him as Nickey Barnes in American Gangster (although it was a small part) so I’ll keep hope alive for Cuba!

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Runteldat from Entertainment Spotlight says:

Janet Jackson in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? — in the scene that was supposed to be a tearjerker, Janet was about as convincing as her brother in a self-esteem competition. What happened to the kid actor with all the chops on Good Times? Hopefully Mrs. Gordon still doesn’t own an iron.

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Gyant, Blogger/Social Critic at GyantScoop.com says:

Everybody who knows me knows that I love me some Oprah. But I got to say that out of all her movies she’s starred in—I could bust her in the head with a Gyant pillow for making Beloved. Oprah’s trying to get her negro spiritual on and we’re all looking at the screening thinking, “Why the hell is Oprah playing in the dirt?”

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The Young, Black & Fabulous says:  Gabrielle Union in Perfect Holiday:  Not only are we supposed to believe for the 10th movie in a row that she’s gorgeous and still can’t find a man—but Morris Chestnut is her man for the umpteenth time and they still can’t make that ish work?

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Love B. Scott says:

Lord knows I love myself some Mariah Carey but when it comes to her 2001 almost autobiographical film, Glitter, let’s just be honest—Mimi’s Glitter should have came no where near the box office but rather selected to make its debut on VH1!

Clay from What the Flick says:

Eddie Murphy used to have a knack for making the offensive laughable.  However, in 2007’s Norbit, the legendary comedian brought a minstel show to the big screen.  The flick is an awful journey in a lifetime of movie -going experiences.  Some say this film is why he lost the Oscar for Dreamgirls.

As reported, Lee Daniels‘ Push won big at the Sundance Film Festival, but did not have a distribution deal. Recently, Lionsgate snatched up the film that according to Variety.com is the biggest deal to come out of the Sundance Film Festival. The deal was assisted with the help of Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.

“Lionsgate reportedly paid north of $5 million. Studio intends to release the film, based on the 1996 book about a Harlem teenager, this year.

Winfrey’s and Perry’s support sweetened the deal for Lionsgate and the filmmakers. The pair will throw their marketing muscle behind the release of the pic through their respective companies, Harpo Films and 34th Street Films.

Directed by Lee Daniels from an adapted script by Damien Paul, ‘Push’ also stars newcomer Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz. Project reteams Lionsgate and Daniels, who has signed with the William Morris Agency, for the first time since ‘Monster’s Ball.’

‘Push’ revolves around an overweight, illiterate African-American teen in Harlem who’s about to give birth to her second child when she is accepted into an alternative school.

‘I’ve never seen anything like it. The moment I saw Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, I knew I wanted to do whatever I could to encourage other people to see this movie. The film is so raw and powerful — it split me open,’ Winfrey said.”

On December 18th, 1985, The Color Purple was released in the U.S.  The movie would feature an unknown Whoopi Golderg in the starring role of Celie, an already established actor with Danny Glover as Albert/Mister, and a local news anchor named Oprah Winfrey as Sofia.  Directed by Steven Spielberg, The Color Purple was originally met with bad reviews.  Critics bashed Spielberg for straying far from the book and making the film too “soft.”  Nonetheless, The Color Purple garnered eleven Oscar nominations and the fans spoke — this film was a classic.

The Color Purple was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker.  The book dealt with complex issues such as domestic abuse, homosexuality, sexism, and racism. When Walker gave permission to remake the film, she insisted on three things: approval of the script, approval of the director (an already famous Steven Spielberg had to audition for Walker) and that the crew behind the scenes be at least 50% people of color.  All of these requests were met.

Famously, after eleven Oscar nominations, including Goldberg for best actress and Winfrey for best supporting actress — The Color Purple lost every single Oscar, even down to best makeup.  Spielberg didn’t even receive a best director nod.

The Color Purple would gross over 94 million dollars at the box office and was #4 in the yearly rankings for 1985.  The film goes down in history as one of the few films with an African-American cast  and a high production budget. Twenty-three years later, we still haven’t seen anything quite like it.