Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective
Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season
2021 Oscars Predictions:
Best Actress (Final)
Updated: Mar. 18, 2021
Awards Prediction Commentary: After the Golden Globe win, Andra Day makes the cut, which brings about the second time that two Black women have been nominated in this category since 1972 when Diana Ross (“Lady Sings the Blues...
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective
Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season
2021 Oscars Predictions:
Best Actress (Final)
Updated: Mar. 18, 2021
Awards Prediction Commentary: After the Golden Globe win, Andra Day makes the cut, which brings about the second time that two Black women have been nominated in this category since 1972 when Diana Ross (“Lady Sings the Blues...
- 3/18/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Forgive me for being a white writer about to pontificate on the career of Lee Daniels. However, it remains his most noteworthy quality that a black, queer director almost exclusively making films about the black experience, consistently produces such vanilla work. Not necessarily bad but simply plain, predictable and forgettable.
Such is the case with The United States vs. Billie Holiday. A film that is less a memoir of the blues icon’s battles with the law and substance addiction and more of a highlights reel of the events. The film flits so quickly through the victories and losses between Holiday and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics that it is impossible to latch onto the events in any kind of emotional way. With Daniels adopting a veritable melange of story structures and styles that only serve to disorient.
The film ostensibly takes place in 1957, where it is initially framed as Holiday,...
Such is the case with The United States vs. Billie Holiday. A film that is less a memoir of the blues icon’s battles with the law and substance addiction and more of a highlights reel of the events. The film flits so quickly through the victories and losses between Holiday and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics that it is impossible to latch onto the events in any kind of emotional way. With Daniels adopting a veritable melange of story structures and styles that only serve to disorient.
The film ostensibly takes place in 1957, where it is initially framed as Holiday,...
- 3/1/2021
- by Liam Macleod
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Oscar Buzz | Andra Day Is Astounding in the Not So Astounding ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’
Photo: ‘The United States Vs. Billie Holiday’/Hulu ‘The United States Vs. Billie Holiday’ Hulu original film 'The United States Vs. Billie Holiday' directed by Lee Daniels’, follows the late and wondrous jazz singer, Billie Holiday, portrayed by Andra Day, during a point in her career when she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics against her activism in the context of her song ‘Strange Fruit’ and overall activism for Black Americans. The undercover operation is led by Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, portrayed by Trevante Rhodes, who was having an affair with Holiday — inspired by the life story of one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, 'The United States Vs. Billie Holiday' does not entirely meet the mark in entailing Holiday's successful and incredibly impactful life story. Instead, the film focuses on a vindictive portrayal of Holiday's moving career as a Black female...
- 2/27/2021
- by Isabella Brownlee
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
The title of Lee Daniels’ new biopic doesn’t just refer to an official court case brought upon by the American government against legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, but a far more sinister and clandestine effort of censorship perpetrated by federal agents acting at the behest of white supremacist institutions. When threatened by prospects of change, the political establishment often tries to demean and defame artists of color grappling with the hard truths about this country’s history of injustice, and Holiday’s circumstances were no different.
With hate crimes reaching unprecedented highs and rumblings of the Civil Rights Movement just beginning in 1947, J. Edgar Hoover’s F.B.I. specifically saw Holiday’s sublime “Strange Fruit” as an anthem of Black resistance. The song’s haunting and horrific depiction of a lynching struck at the raw nerve of racial violence in the post-war era that had become all too commonplace at this point,...
With hate crimes reaching unprecedented highs and rumblings of the Civil Rights Movement just beginning in 1947, J. Edgar Hoover’s F.B.I. specifically saw Holiday’s sublime “Strange Fruit” as an anthem of Black resistance. The song’s haunting and horrific depiction of a lynching struck at the raw nerve of racial violence in the post-war era that had become all too commonplace at this point,...
- 2/25/2021
- by Glenn Heath Jr.
- The Film Stage
Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective
Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season
2021 Golden Globe Predictions:
Best Actress In A Motion Picture (Drama)
Updated: Feb. 24, 2021
Awards Prediction Commentary: The Golden Globes nominations were announced on Feb. 3, with Netflix’s “Mank” from David Fincher leading with six nods. As the ceremony approaches on Feb. 28, the categories have been...
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective
Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season
2021 Golden Globe Predictions:
Best Actress In A Motion Picture (Drama)
Updated: Feb. 24, 2021
Awards Prediction Commentary: The Golden Globes nominations were announced on Feb. 3, with Netflix’s “Mank” from David Fincher leading with six nods. As the ceremony approaches on Feb. 28, the categories have been...
- 2/24/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Lee Daniels was eager to direct “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” because this was a side of the legendary singer’s story he never knew: “I didn’t understand how this story in history had never been told before. When you think about what she did with ‘Strange Fruit,’ that was about the lynching of Black men and women in the South and the government trying to stop her from singing that song … It’s not taught in schools.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Daniels above.
SEEAndra Day (‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’) on the singer’s legacy: ‘She permeates everything that we do’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“When you think of civil rights leaders you think of Martin Luther King, you think of Malcolm X or Gandhi, and maybe Rosa Parks. You don’t really think of Billie Holiday,” Daniels says. The image many have of her is that of...
SEEAndra Day (‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’) on the singer’s legacy: ‘She permeates everything that we do’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“When you think of civil rights leaders you think of Martin Luther King, you think of Malcolm X or Gandhi, and maybe Rosa Parks. You don’t really think of Billie Holiday,” Daniels says. The image many have of her is that of...
- 2/24/2021
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Billie Holiday didn’t particularly enjoy singing “Strange Fruit,” a chilling anti-lynching anthem that compared Black bodies to fruit hanging from a tree, but she knew it was too important to not be performed.
The song, which earned the sympathy of her Black and white patrons, made her a threat to the FBI and marked the early beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, serves as the centerpiece of Lee Daniels’ forthcoming The United States vs Billie Holiday.
More from TVLineQueen Latifah: 'Black Women Have Been Equalizing for Years and Years, From Hatshepsut to Kamala Harris'Genius: Aretha EP Suzan-Lori Parks: 'Black...
The song, which earned the sympathy of her Black and white patrons, made her a threat to the FBI and marked the early beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, serves as the centerpiece of Lee Daniels’ forthcoming The United States vs Billie Holiday.
More from TVLineQueen Latifah: 'Black Women Have Been Equalizing for Years and Years, From Hatshepsut to Kamala Harris'Genius: Aretha EP Suzan-Lori Parks: 'Black...
- 2/24/2021
- by Keisha Hatchett
- TVLine.com
Director Lee Daniels was in the midst of wrapping up his latest movie — The United States vs. Billie Holiday, which tells the story of the late, troubled jazz singer and how “Strange Fruit,” the anti-lynching protest song she introduced to the world, brought her both triumph and troubles — when he noticed an unsettling parallel. He suddenly got a firsthand look at just how timely his new film project was. “We were in the middle of editing and that [George Floyd’s death] happened,” he recalls. “People were sending me [protest] videos...
- 2/22/2021
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
The gifted and mercurial Lee Daniels, director of “Precious,” is one of the only filmmakers I can think of who would dare to drop a badass-diva moment of Billie Holiday violently slapping her spouse into the middle of an otherwise giddy celebrity-singer-on-tour montage. In Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” Billie, played with glamorous, blowsy, dagger-eyed force by Andra Day, has had her share of ups and downs — on and off heroin (mostly on); a stint in prison; a despicably unwarranted and relentless crackdown on her life and career by the U.S. government; a succession of romantic partners who are smooth-talking scoundrels — or, in one case, too nice and upstanding for her.
But Billie claws her way through every setback, to the point that she’s on a glittering concert tour of Europe. In the montage, we see her up onstage, in a Paris restaurant, and in a ritzy...
But Billie claws her way through every setback, to the point that she’s on a glittering concert tour of Europe. In the montage, we see her up onstage, in a Paris restaurant, and in a ritzy...
- 2/19/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Arriving on Hulu in the wake of “MLK/FBI” and “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” provides yet another angle on J. Edgar Hoover’s war against Black America. And while director Lee Daniels packs in as much righteous anger as those other films, he does so with his trademark love of melodrama and disdain for subtlety.
In her first major acting role, singer Andra Day gives an emphatic and multi-shaded performance as the legendary Lady Day, but she and her talented co-stars are subject to an often-clunky screenplay by the esteemed playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, not to mention Daniels’ signature sensibility of putting too fine a point on anything and everything.
The goal is to correct the conventional take on Holiday, one of the 20th century’s greatest singers, breaking from received ideas about her drug addiction and exploring the facts about her relentless harassment by the FBI,...
In her first major acting role, singer Andra Day gives an emphatic and multi-shaded performance as the legendary Lady Day, but she and her talented co-stars are subject to an often-clunky screenplay by the esteemed playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, not to mention Daniels’ signature sensibility of putting too fine a point on anything and everything.
The goal is to correct the conventional take on Holiday, one of the 20th century’s greatest singers, breaking from received ideas about her drug addiction and exploring the facts about her relentless harassment by the FBI,...
- 2/19/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Lee Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” frames the government’s war on the smoky-voiced jazz singer as a portrait of two bad romances told in parallel: one, a forbidden spark between an African-American icon and the undercover fed who may have fallen for her, and the other an unrequited love story between them both (and the country that refuses to love either of them back). In a way that won’t surprise anyone familiar with the director’s ever-florid work, the acute geometry of that premise is expressed through — and often betrayed by — the general shapelessness of a hot-house melodrama that embraces its namesake’s “all or nothing at all” ethos to a fault.
Much like “Precious” and the Daniels-produced “Monster’s Ball” before it, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” is somehow overbaked and raw as a bone at the same time, at all times. And much like those previous films,...
Much like “Precious” and the Daniels-produced “Monster’s Ball” before it, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” is somehow overbaked and raw as a bone at the same time, at all times. And much like those previous films,...
- 2/19/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Lee Daniels’ bizarre decision to root this account of the singer’s late years in supposition about her romance with a federal agent cheapens her courage
Lee Daniels’ bland, stilted, TV-movie treatment of the final years in the life of jazz singing legend Billie Holiday, imprisoned on a drugs charge and officially harassed long after her release, is fatally compromised by its own misjudged and obtuse romantic fantasy. The film rhapsodises that, after a lifetime of abuse from men, and a persistent campaign of victimisation from federal agents enraged by her courageous anti-lynching song Strange Fruit, Holiday’s emotional life was redeemed by a gallant, secret love affair with an undercover federal agent called Jimmy Fletcher; that is, someone working for the very people who had been making her life a misery.
Holiday is played by singer Andra Day and Fletcher by Trevante Rhodes; Garrett Hedlund plays Harry Anslinger, the...
Lee Daniels’ bland, stilted, TV-movie treatment of the final years in the life of jazz singing legend Billie Holiday, imprisoned on a drugs charge and officially harassed long after her release, is fatally compromised by its own misjudged and obtuse romantic fantasy. The film rhapsodises that, after a lifetime of abuse from men, and a persistent campaign of victimisation from federal agents enraged by her courageous anti-lynching song Strange Fruit, Holiday’s emotional life was redeemed by a gallant, secret love affair with an undercover federal agent called Jimmy Fletcher; that is, someone working for the very people who had been making her life a misery.
Holiday is played by singer Andra Day and Fletcher by Trevante Rhodes; Garrett Hedlund plays Harry Anslinger, the...
- 2/19/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
With The United States vs. Billie Holiday streaming on Hulu, both longtime and new fans will likely be clamoring for more of the legendary jazz singer, who died in 1959 at the age of 44. Born Eleanora Fagan, Billie Holiday was among the targets of Federal Bureau of Narcotics head Harry Anslinger, whose racist agenda fueled a so-called crackdown on marijuana and heroin. That torment, as well as the music icon’s life, is the subject of the upcoming Lee Daniels biopic starring Andra Day as Holiday and Trevante Rhodes as undercover FBI agent-turned-lover Jimmy Fletcher.
- 2/16/2021
- by Danielle Directo-Meston
- Rollingstone.com
'The United States vs Billie Holiday' trailer has arrived and it looks promising.
Hulu dropped the first exclusive trailer for the upcoming biographical drama 'The United States vs Billie Holiday' featuring R&b singer Andra Day in the titular role.
Directed by Lee Daniels, the film is based on Johan Hari’s 2015 novel 'Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs' and follows the iconic singer's early life in her career.
Written by Suzan-Lori Parks, the upcoming biopic also features Garrett Hedlund, Natasha Lyonne, Evan Ross, Trevante Rhodes, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dana Gourrier, Erik Laray Harvey, Kwasi Songui, and Melvin Gregg in key roles.
According to Screenrant, the official synopsis for 'The United States vs Billie Holiday' is as follows: “Focuses on Holiday during her career as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher,...
Hulu dropped the first exclusive trailer for the upcoming biographical drama 'The United States vs Billie Holiday' featuring R&b singer Andra Day in the titular role.
Directed by Lee Daniels, the film is based on Johan Hari’s 2015 novel 'Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs' and follows the iconic singer's early life in her career.
Written by Suzan-Lori Parks, the upcoming biopic also features Garrett Hedlund, Natasha Lyonne, Evan Ross, Trevante Rhodes, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dana Gourrier, Erik Laray Harvey, Kwasi Songui, and Melvin Gregg in key roles.
According to Screenrant, the official synopsis for 'The United States vs Billie Holiday' is as follows: “Focuses on Holiday during her career as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher,...
- 1/13/2021
- by Omkar Padte
- GlamSham
The first trailer for Lee Daniel’s biopic on famed jazz singer Billie Holiday ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ has landed.
The film focuses on the events surrounding the jazz singer, Billie Holiday played by Andra Day narcotics arrest at her home in New York City in 1947 while also examining her struggles with addiction, fame and heartbreak.
It shows how Holiday was targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting led by agent Jimmy Fletcher, played by Trevante Rhodes, who had an affair with the singer.
Directed by Lee Daniels, the film also stars Garrett Hedlund, Tyler James Williams and Natasha Lyonne.
Also in trailers – Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo kind of star in trailer for ‘Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar’
The post First trailer arrives for Lee Daniels ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The film focuses on the events surrounding the jazz singer, Billie Holiday played by Andra Day narcotics arrest at her home in New York City in 1947 while also examining her struggles with addiction, fame and heartbreak.
It shows how Holiday was targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting led by agent Jimmy Fletcher, played by Trevante Rhodes, who had an affair with the singer.
Directed by Lee Daniels, the film also stars Garrett Hedlund, Tyler James Williams and Natasha Lyonne.
Also in trailers – Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo kind of star in trailer for ‘Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar’
The post First trailer arrives for Lee Daniels ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 1/12/2021
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
"Those lyrics provoke people." Hulu has officially revealed the first official trailer for The United States vs. Billie Holiday, a new Lee Daniels movie that was dumped by Paramount and sold off to Hulu. It was supposed to open in theaters this spring, instead it's going direct-to-streaming at the end of February. The screenplay is written by Suzan-Lori Parks, the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The film follows singer Billie Holiday, played by Grammy nominated singer Andra Day, during her career as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, with whom she had a tumultuous affair. Described as an "intimate tale of a fierce trailblazer whose defiance through music helped usher in the civil rights movement." The full ensemble cast includes Trevante Rhodes, Natasha Lyonne, Garrett Hedlund, Miss Lawrence, Rob Morgan,...
- 1/11/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ Trailer Showcases ‘Strong, Beautiful and Black’ Singer’s Life
The first trailer for Paramount’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” explores the tragic story of singer Billie Holiday, the racial inequalities of 1940s America and her encounters with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
The jazz singer, portrayed by Andra Day, came under fire by the agency after performing the song “Strange Fruit,” which condemns the U.S. history of lynching Black people. The film, directed by Lee Daniels and written by Suzan-Lori Parks, is inspired by Johann Hari’s book “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.”
The movie focuses on Holiday’s dealings with federal agents, who allegedly began to target her due to her alcohol and drug abuse. Their behavior, however, was based more on her political sway with “Strange Fruit” than her actual struggles, according to NPR. An FBI memo even acknowledged that the Federal Bureau of Narcotics hoped...
The jazz singer, portrayed by Andra Day, came under fire by the agency after performing the song “Strange Fruit,” which condemns the U.S. history of lynching Black people. The film, directed by Lee Daniels and written by Suzan-Lori Parks, is inspired by Johann Hari’s book “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.”
The movie focuses on Holiday’s dealings with federal agents, who allegedly began to target her due to her alcohol and drug abuse. Their behavior, however, was based more on her political sway with “Strange Fruit” than her actual struggles, according to NPR. An FBI memo even acknowledged that the Federal Bureau of Narcotics hoped...
- 1/11/2021
- by Eli Countryman
- Variety Film + TV
Andra Day is singing jazz and feeling the blues in the first trailer for “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” In the clip, it seems the whole world is against Holiday, with the government trying to prevent her from performing her iconic song “Strange Fruit.” But as she vehemently declares, she’ll sing “what the f— I want.”
Lee Daniels’ biopic on Holiday charts the tumultuous legal battle in which she became the target of an undercover narcotics sting operation led by Jimmy Fletcher, the man with whom she had an affair. “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” named after the 1947 court case against her, is inspired by the singer’s life story and her struggles with addiction, fame and heartbreak.
Though it was originally meant to be a theatrical release from Paramount, Hulu has officially acquired the U.S. rights to the film. The first trailer dropped on Monday...
Lee Daniels’ biopic on Holiday charts the tumultuous legal battle in which she became the target of an undercover narcotics sting operation led by Jimmy Fletcher, the man with whom she had an affair. “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” named after the 1947 court case against her, is inspired by the singer’s life story and her struggles with addiction, fame and heartbreak.
Though it was originally meant to be a theatrical release from Paramount, Hulu has officially acquired the U.S. rights to the film. The first trailer dropped on Monday...
- 1/11/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Lee Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” is the next enigma in this awards season and could prove to be one of the more divisive entries. Daniels, who became the second Black filmmaker to be nominated for best director for 2009’s “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” (the first was John Singleton for 1991’s “Boyz N the Hood”) hasn’t captured the attention of voters since then. On the opening day of SAG voting and dropping its first trailer, it looks to angle for an Oscar play, in particular, for Andra Day as the iconic blues singer. Judging by some of the discussions, this is not the slam dunk contender pundits were expecting.
The film looks at Billie Holiday (Day) during the time in her career when she becomes a target by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover string operation led by Jimmy Fletcher, a Black Federal Agent.
The film looks at Billie Holiday (Day) during the time in her career when she becomes a target by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover string operation led by Jimmy Fletcher, a Black Federal Agent.
- 1/11/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
More Golden Globes category placements and shifts have occurred that will factor into this year’s Oscar race.
Variety has learned exclusively that Stanley Tucci’s performance in Harry Macqueen’s “Supernova” has been rejected for best supporting actor in a motion picture and has been moved to the best actor in a motion picture (drama) category, alongside his co-star Colin Firth.
“Supernova,” tells the love story of Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), who travel across England in their old Rv to visit friends, family and places from their past, following two years after Tusker’s dementia diagnosis.
Bleecker Street has been campaigning the 60-year-old actor in the supporting category for the Academy Awards. With the lead actor race stacked and competing for votes against his co-star, his chances for a nomination at the Globes have decreased greatly. For the SAG awards, the group honors the studio’s submission and...
Variety has learned exclusively that Stanley Tucci’s performance in Harry Macqueen’s “Supernova” has been rejected for best supporting actor in a motion picture and has been moved to the best actor in a motion picture (drama) category, alongside his co-star Colin Firth.
“Supernova,” tells the love story of Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), who travel across England in their old Rv to visit friends, family and places from their past, following two years after Tusker’s dementia diagnosis.
Bleecker Street has been campaigning the 60-year-old actor in the supporting category for the Academy Awards. With the lead actor race stacked and competing for votes against his co-star, his chances for a nomination at the Globes have decreased greatly. For the SAG awards, the group honors the studio’s submission and...
- 1/3/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
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