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USA Today
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Oscars prove that 'dreams can come true' for 'Sing Sing's formerly incarcerated men
Oscars prove that 'dreams can come true' for 'Sing Sing's formerly incarcerated men Show Caption Hide Caption John 'Divine G' Whitfield shares his thoughts on Colman Domingo's nomination John "Divine G" Whitfield celebrates Colman Domingo's Oscar nomination for his portrayal in "Sing Sing." Entertain This! BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – John 'Divine G' Whitfield has long-believed in the power of manifestation. On the set of the prison drama 'Sing Sing,' which is inspired in part by his experience, he remembers telling cast and crew members, 'This movie is going to be big!' That became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with the film earning three Oscar nominations including best actor (Colman Domingo) and best original song ('Like a Bird'). Whitfield, 60, received a nod from the Academy for best adapted screenplay, which he shared with director Greg Kwedar, co-writer Clint Bentley and actor Clarence Maclin. The Brooklyn-based author spent 25 years at New York's Sing Sing Correctional Facility after he was wrongfully convicted of murder. But even behind bars, he always knew he was destined for great things, including a spot at Hollywood's biggest ceremony Sunday night. Love movies? Live for TV? USA TODAY's Watch Party newsletter has all the best recommendations, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now and be one of the cool kids. If Whitfield could speak to his younger self, 'I think he'd say, 'Hey, it's possible!' ' says the Oscar nominee, sitting down for a breakfast of turkey bacon, eggs and hash browns a few days before the show. 'I mean, who would expect this movie would be embraced so well? But dreams can come true and our movie is a representation of that fact. 'I would tell him to just stay the course, keep your heart pure and keep on helping people. Throw out good into the universe, and it comes back tenfold.' For the 'Sing Sing' team, the Oscars don't 'have to be the end' The Oscars were the last stop of a years-long journey for 'Sing Sing,' which premiered at Toronto Film Festival in 2023 and was released in theaters last summer. Kwedar began developing the project nearly a decade ago after reading a 2005 Esquire article about Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), a theater program at Sing Sing that teaches incarcerated men invaluable life skills through writing and performing. The movie centers on the friendship between Whitfield (Domingo) and Maclin (playing himself) as they stage 'Breakin' the Mummy's Code,' an original time-traveling comedy featuring everyone from Robin Hood to Freddy Krueger. From the jump, 'we were not setting some lofty goal to get to the Oscars,' Kwedar says. 'The gift was just getting to make it.' The cast is comprised almost entirely of formerly incarcerated men, and the filmmakers made a conscious effort to keep their stories front and center throughout awards season. They helped fight for actor JJ Velazquez to be exonerated of his wrongful murder conviction last year, and continue to speak out in support of Whitfield, who was released from prison in 2012 but is still waiting for full exoneration. They're also quick to praise Maclin and co-star Sean Dino Johnson, both of whom now have acting representation. (Maclin, who received British Academy Film Awards, Critics Choice and Independent Spirit awards nominations for 'Sing Sing,' will next star in Ray Panthaki's 'In Starland.') 'I really would've loved to see that best supporting actor (Oscar) nod for Clarence – I'll be honest, that one hurt,' Kwedar says. But even still, 'two RTA members are now Oscar nominees – that's a first for the organization.' After forging a family with the "Sing Sing" cast, the filmmakers hope to bring a similar sense of equity and collaboration to future projects. Days before the Academy Awards, they ran a workshop at San Quentin Prison in Northern California, 'teaching the guys in there how to shoot on a film,' Bentley says. 'It was such a beautiful, grounding way to start a crazy week.' The experience 'showed me this doesn't have to be the end,' Kwedar adds. 'If there's a lesson, it's that you need to do the work to cultivate that kind of community. Also, another big thing I want to do going forward is to hire the incredibly talented formerly incarcerated artists coming up.' John 'Divine G' Whitfield rubbed shoulders with Demi Moore, Adrien Brody during awards season Whitfield has been 'flying on cloud nine' ever since Oscar nominations were announced in late January. 'It's hard to believe, man, but it's definitely sinking in,' he says. 'Everybody (from RTA) is enjoying this moment. I guess my win is their win as well.' He arrived in Los Angeles the Monday before the telecast and spent his scant downtime taking long walks around the city. ('I was thinking of going on one of those tour buses, just to sightsee.') On Tuesday, he gathered with his fellow nominees for the Oscar class photo, where he was seated next to the 'beautiful' and 'open' Ralph Fiennes of 'Conclave.' Throughout awards season, he's most enjoyed getting to chat with 'The Brutalist' stars Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, although he admittedly didn't finish watching the 3½-hour epic ('It was just so long!'). He was also thrilled to meet 'The Substance' actress Demi Moore: 'I was like, 'Whoa, Demi Moore!' I love me some Demi Moore!' Whitfield says with a smile. 'I'll go see everything with Demi in it.' The last year has been filled with surreal moments for the cast, from screening the film for currently incarcerated men at Sing Sing prison to staging a condensed version of 'Mummy's Code' with the original cast at New York Theatre Workshop ('It felt so good to be back with the team"). But some of Whitfield's favorite experiences have been buying tickets to see "Sing Sing" in a theater and watching how audiences react. 'People will be crying and I'm just like, 'Wow,' ' Whitfield says. 'It's good that people are actually getting the message that humans can change their behaviors." In RTA, "our whole mission for many years has been to share the power of art and how it's so healing. This movie has given us a vehicle to do that.'
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards: How often do they predict music Oscars?
'Like a Bird' from the prison drama Sing Sing just won a key prize at the 15th Annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards on Sunday night so does that make the tune written by Abraham Alexander, Brandon Marcel, and Adrian Quesada the new frontrunner for the Best Song Oscar? The guild has been handing out its award for Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film for the last nine years, and in that span it has lined up with the Oscars only three times: 'City of Stars' from La La Land, 'Shallow' from A Star is Born, and 'What Was I Made For?' from Barbie. In four instances, the guild picked songs that were nominated for but didn't win the Oscar: 'Mystery of Love' from Call Me by Your Name, 'Hear My Voice' from The Trial of the Chicago 7, 'Dos Oruguitas' from Encanto, and 'This Is a Life' from Everything Everywhere All at Once. The other two times, the GMS chose songs that weren't nominated for Oscars: 'See You Again' from Furious 7 and 'One Little Soldier' from Bombshell. More from GoldDerby 'Sing Sing' wins Best Song at Guild of Music Supervisors Awards: List of winners also includes 'Wicked,' 'Complete Unknown' Only winners in the building: 5 takeaways from the SAG Awards' TV winners 'Conclave' wins Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards - here's what it means for the Oscars race SEE Oscars Best Original Song breakdown: How 'mal' publicity could derail favorite 'Emilia Pérez' in Best Song So the GMS Awards is far from a perfect barometer for the Oscars. What's more, only two of this year's six GMS nominees even made the cut at the Oscars: 'Like a Bird' and Diane Warren's 'The Journey' from The Six Triple Eight. The other four nominees at the GMS Awards were 'Kiss the Sky' from The Wild Robot, 'The Idea of You' from The Idea of You, 'Out of Oklahoma' from Twisters, and 'Why I'm Here' from Shirley. The three Oscar contenders not nominated by the guild were 'El Mal' and 'Mi Camino' from Emilia Pérez and 'Never Too Late' from Elton John: Never Too Late. Based on the official Gold Derby odds, 'El Mal' is predicted to win the Oscar. The track already won Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards, but it has proved vulnerable at other events. At the Hollywood Music in Media Awards last year it lost Best Original Song — Feature Film to 'The Journey,' although Zoe Saldaña did win an HMMA for her onscreen performance of the song and its composers, Camille and Clément Ducol, were victorious for their original score. Then at the Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards, 'El Mal' lost Best Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production to 'Compress/Repress' from Challengers, which wasn't even nominated for Oscar. SEEOscars Best Original Score breakdown: 'The Brutalist' has slight edge in a wide-open race Having the best music supervision doesn't correlate to having the best score either. Only two GMS Award winners for Best Music Supervision have gone on to win Best Original Score at the Oscars: La La Land and Soul. And that makes sense. Much of the role of a music supervisor involves selecting and licensing music, so the GMS Award winners tend to be films that are heavy on songs, like Begin Again, Guardians of the Galaxy, Straight Outta Compton, and Pitch Perfect 3. That's certainly true of this year's winners. Wicked claimed Best Music Supervision in Major Budget Films, A Complete Unknown took Best Music Supervision in Mid-Level Budget Films, and I Saw the TV Glow came away with Best Music Supervision in Low Budget Films. Of those, only Wicked is an Oscar nominee for Best Original Score, for co-composers Stephen Schwartz and John Powell. But since the GMS and the Oscars aren't usually on the same page, that may not help the film in our Oscar odds, where it currently ranks fifth. The current Oscar frontrunner is Daniel Blumberg for The Brutalist, which was nominated by the guild in the low-budget category, but didn't win. However, Blumberg crucially won BAFTA and Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards for the score, sending him into the Oscars in a strong position, arguably still stronger than Wicked. We'll find out one way or another when the Oscars are presented on March 2. Best of GoldDerby 2025 Oscars race scorecard: 'Conclave,' Timothée Chalamet pull off SAG Awards wins while Demi Moore rebounds Ron Howard movies: 17 greatest films ranked worst to best John Turturro movies: 11 greatest films ranked worst to best Click here to read the full article.
Khaleej Times
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Oscars 2025: A flight to glory for Adrian Quesada and 'Like a Bird'?
As a child, Adrian Quesada dreamed of success at the MTV Video Music Awards, but now, he is on an even bigger stage — with an Oscar nomination. The American musician with Mexican roots hopes the presence at the Academy Awards of someone from the Texas border town of Laredo will serve as an inspiration for other people from minority communities. "Representation, I think, in the arts, is a big thing," Quesada said in Los Angeles as he promoted his powerful track Like a Bird from the prison drama Sing Sing — a nominee for the best original song prize. "If I'm a young kid watching MTV or watching movies or watching TV, when you actually see people that look like you out there, people that you know come from your culture, it inspires the next generation." The Black Pumas guitarist co-wrote and performed Like a Bird, which closes the film, with singer Abraham Alexander. The nomination is one of three for Sing Sing, which tells the true story of Divine G (Colman Domingo), a wrongfully convicted inmate who finds an outlet in a prison theatre group. Former prisoners who participated in the real-life drama programme performed in the film, which was directed by Greg Kwedar. Domingo is nominated for best actor, and the script is vying for best adapted screenplay honors. Quesada and Alexander did not have their sights set on Hollywood's glitzy awards season when they signed up for the film, and Quesada admits that it has been "surreal" to be caught up in Tinseltown's annual jamboree. "It's still something that is hard to process," he said. "I still sometimes wake up and can't believe that." Quesada is no stranger to plaudits, earning multiple Grammy nominations during his long career and winning one golden gramophone for his work with Austin-based Latin funk outfit Grupo Fantasma. But he admits a nod from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is something special. "The Academy Awards just seemed like such a different world," he said. True story Like a Bird will face some stiff competition at the Oscars on March 2. Other nominees are El Mal and Mi Camino from the narco musical Emilia Perez; Never Too Late from the documentary Elton John: Never Too Late; and The Journey from The Six Triple Eight by veteran composer Diane Warren, who has never won in the category despite being nominated 15 previous times. For Quesada, who says he firmly believes in second chances and rehabilitation through the arts, taking part in the project was an invitation he found impossible to refuse. The importance of seeing prisoners as more than their crimes has been highlighted by their role in helping to quell the huge wildfires that tore through Los Angeles last month, with inmate crews working alongside firefighters. "You have prisoners... fighting fires for people and then having to go back to prison... fighting these fires for homes that they can't even afford," said Quesada. "I think this film really brings to light a lot of humanity." Taking part in Sing Sing was not without obstacles, especially when it came to finding time when both he and Alexander were available. "It was like we were never even in the same room to do it," he laughed. "He came into my studio, but I was out of town, and then he left, and I came back." Winning an Oscar would be "a great honour," admits the guitarist. "We believe in our song, but I think we're part of a big picture here, which is the film's message," he said.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Oscar nominees speak out on ‘disrespectful' snub of Best Original Song performances
For the ninth year, the Songwriters Hall of Fame has gathered the Oscar nominees for Best Original Song for a special virtual discussion. The panel, which premiered online today, featured Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada ('Like a Bird' from Sing Sing), Brandi Carlile ('Never Too Late' from Elton John: Never Too Late), Clément Ducol and Camille ('El Mal' and 'Mi Camino' from Emilia Pérez), and Diane Warren ('The Journey' from The Six Triple Eight), with Songwriters Hall of Famers Nile Rodgers and Paul Williams (also an Oscar winner for Best Song) moderating the conversation. Watch it here. SEE'Anora' skyrockets to No. 1 in Best Picture Oscar odds after huge upsets at PGA, DGA, Critics Choice 'I was introduced to Elton's music through a book report when I was 11 years old and fell head over heels with Elton John as a person before I even heard any of his music,' said Carlile. 'So when I say I'm a fan, it's fundamental. I never would've written a song or played an instrument without Elton John and Bernie Taupin.' Now she's nominated for an Oscar for penning 'Never Too Late' from the Elton John biographical doc of the same name. And she's nominated with John and Taupin, along with Andrew Watt. 'I was really inspired by [the film]. When I got to the end of it, I thought, 'He's so f—king tough.' That's the thing I wish more people knew about Elton John. He is an iron man, baby.' More from GoldDerby How 'Defying Gravity' took flight: The untold story from 3 'Wicked' Oscar nominees 2026 Grammys: Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga among top early contenders for Album of the Year 'Anora' skyrockets to No. 1 in Best Picture Oscar odds after huge upsets at PGA, DGA, Critics Choice Alexander explained how he and Quesada had a very specific vision for 'Like a Bird.' 'We thought that it was important to personify the emotion that we were seeing and the emotion that we were feeling, and we came up with the idea of a bird,' Alexander said. 'The fact that birds were created to fly, and to feel wind underneath their wings and to touch the skies. And I think the same goes for human beings and humans were created to dream and to have purpose, meaning and feel love. When you deny a bird from flying, you're denying it from being precisely what he was created for. And when you incarcerate human beings and remove them from being humanized, you're removing them from the God-given thing that they were created for.' Quesada added, 'We didn't really have a lot of time for it. We probably had a couple of days to get it together and we were never in the same room. He was going into the studio at 2 in the morning, sending me the files overnight, and I'd send him stuff back. It was that kind of thing. And up until the last minute, the moment that [director Greg Kwedar] and producer Monique came to my studio to watch it sync up with the film, I was literally editing it. I mean, until the second I hit play in front of them, I was working on it. So it had this really divine kind of serendipitous way that it all just came together and fit like a glove.' SEEOscars Best Animated Feature breakdown: Why 'The Wild Robot' will hold off 'Flow,' 'Inside Out 2' Warren is a veteran of the Oscars and of the SHOF Oscar nominees panel. She has been nominated by the Academy for the last eight years in a row and 16 times total. She has yet to win a statuette competitively, but in 2022 she became the first songwriter ever to receive an Honorary Oscar. Now she's up for 'The Journey,' which she approached differently from her usual songs for motion pictures. 'My friend Keri Selig, she's a friend of mine that I've known for 20 years, … she goes, 'I need to talk to you about this movie I'm producing.'' So she showed Warren a sizzle reel of The Six Triple Eight and walked her through the rest. 'I've never written a song that way. Usually, I'll get a script or I'll see a rough cut of the movie. I saw the movie in my mind and the next day. I sat at my keyboards and just played that chord progression. That chorus just came, literally as I was playing, I wrote that whole chorus. That usually doesn't happen.' The end result was 'one of my favorite, favorite, favorite songs I ever wrote in my life.' Camille and Ducol could relate to Warren's lyrics about embarking on a long journey. 'We spent two years, I mean, not in a row, but with several work sessions, two years working on the songs, along with the script being written,' Camille revealed. 'We rewrote. Back and forth with each scene. We thought, 'Is it a song? Is there a song?' And we would progress like that from the beginning to the end of the movie. So that took two years, and then the shooting took place, and then we rewrote the score.' Of 'El Mal' in particular, Ducol remembered, 'This is actually the song that gave us the most trouble to write because the subject matter is so harsh. … We were between cynicism, irony, distance, lyricism. We made six or seven different songs until we finally found the tone with this sort of rock opera rap.' But those songs won't be performed at the Oscars, according to the Academy's latest plans. 'I feel really sad because I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to perform on the Oscars again,' Carlile commented. 'I can't fathom it, especially with Elton John. When I first found Elton John, it was in the '90s, and he was winning an Oscar for The Lion King, and I couldn't believe it. I thought, 'One day when I grow up, if I could get the right clothes, I could go to his Oscar party.' So to have the opportunity to perform with Elton John on the Oscars is a hard thing to not have manifest.' SIGN UPfor Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions 'I think it's extremely disrespectful to all the song nominees,' Warren argued. 'In 2021 they did all the songs in a pre-show, which no one kind of knew was on, and it wasn't shown outside of America. And there were really beautiful performances. … People really do love music. Music is important to films. Listen to a movie without music and see what you feel. Songs are important. We've all written songs that are really integral to the movies they're in. And to me, it's unfair to both the nominees and the audience out there to not be able to hear them.' For Camille, 'music is entertainment and music is also a way to be in communion with the people.' Warren interjects that these songs are uniquely meaningful, reflecting 'what we're going through right now. Music is a healer. And to take that out of this, it's wrong.' Alexander contributed, 'If they want to highlight people's pain and highlight what they've lost, then let's do that with grace, and let's do that with love and kindness,' but he ultimately agreed with Warren that 'music is healing and music can bring people together. Music can explain what people have gone through, and give them hope, and give them a sense of relief — give them a sense of embrace.' The Society of Composers and Lyricists even sent a letter to the Academy leadership asking them to restore the songs to the telecast. 'I just think everybody was nominated by our amazing peers in the music branch, and it's a big honor,' said Warren. 'I'm not taking that away. The fact that we got nominated, we already won. It's amazing. But you just want the songs to be heard, especially at a time like this.' Best of GoldDerby How 'Defying Gravity' took flight: The untold story from 3 'Wicked' Oscar nominees 2025 Oscars race scorecard: 'Anora' regains momentum with DGA and PGA wins 2025 Oscars calendar update: Visual Effects Society Awards on Feb. 11 Click here to read the full article.
