The Cast and Crew of Black Lightning

[formerlyfreedom]

Your cast and crew discussion of Black Lightning goes here!

[Trini]

'Mara Brock Akil on bringing her real-life love story to TV in Love Is___'

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“How have you been able to find love, maintain love, thrive in your business and individual dreams, and build a family?” Those are queries Mara Brock Akil, 49, and her husband, Salim Akil, 54, have heard for years. Now the power couple behind Being Mary Jane and Black Lightning are providing “an honest answer to a sincere question” by pulling back the curtain on their 20-year love story with the new drama Love Is___.

The OWN series tracks penniless aspiring director Yasir (Will Catlett) and Nuri (Michele Weaver), a successful sitcom staff writer, as they navigate black Hollywood in the ’90s and end up falling in love. “[It’s] two kids from different economic brackets, different upbringings, coming together and recognizing each other and knowing that they can build something together, but also become better people individually,” says Brock Akil.

The seeds of the story hew very closely to what actually occurred when Brock Akil met Akil. ...

 

Also, Will Catlett (LaLa) is starring in this!

[Trini]

BTW, Cress Williams is the voice for Steel in DC's Reign of the Supermen animated film:

Edited January 13, 2019 by Trini

[Trini]

Nafessa Williams Join Sony’s ‘Black And Blue’ Thriller

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Luke Cage star Mike Colter and Nafessa Williams, who plays Thunder in the DC Comics-based CW series Black Lightning, have joined star Naomie Harris in the cop thriller, Black And Blue, which hails from Sony’s Screen Gems. Deon Taylor is directing the film from a script by Peter A. Dowling.

It centers on a rookie New Orleans cop (Harris) who rounds the corner just as corrupt narc officers are murdering a drug dealer, an event captured by her body cam. When they then fail to execute her and she escapes, the narcs pin the murder on her, and she is hunted both by the narcs who are desperate to destroy the incriminating footage and the drug dealers out for revenge.

Frank Grillo, Reid Scott, Beau Knapp, and Tyrese Gibson are also set to co-star.

[Trini]

'Cress Williams Joins ‘The Violent Heart’ & ‘Reckoning’',

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Williams is set to co-star in The Violent Heart from writer-director Kerem Sanga with 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen, Ed McDonnell, Tobey Maguire’s Material Pictures, and 3311 producing. Williams joins Grace Van Patten and Jovan Adepo in the coming-of-age romance pic which is slated to shoot this month in Austin, Texas.

Set outside Ft. Hood, Texas, the plot centers on a college-bound senior on the cusp of graduation, and her budding relationship with a local mechanic named Daniel (Adepo), who himself dreams of becoming a Marine. As they fall for one another, the details surrounding Daniel’s tragic and violent past inevitably catch up with them. Williams will play Lee, a strong, jovial Marine and Daniel’s father.

...

In addition, he has been cast opposite Oscar winners Mira Sorvino and Richard Dreyfuss in Reckoning, a crime thriller written and directed by Adam Lipsius. It follows Ben Myers (Dreyfuss), a temperamental, take-no-prisoners tough guy with a terrifying dark side who, despite suffering from leukemia while nursing his dementia-ridden wife, decides to seek revenge on the thieves who have destroyed his life. Williams’ role is Billy, leader of a criminal operation.

[Trini]

Jordan Calloway took part in Marc Bernardin's Plague Nerdalogues:

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-plague-nerdalogues-the-second-wave-grant-gustin-kevin-smith-yvette-nicole-brown-black-lives-matter-charity

https://theplaguenerdalogues.com/

[Trini]

Executive Producer Mara Brock Akil to be a part of a variety special airing on CW:

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The CW Network and WIF (Women In Film, Los Angeles) announced today that the network will broadcast WIF's WOMEN IN FILM PRESENTS: MAKE IT WORK! on Wednesday, August 26 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT). The one-hour variety special, a combination of music, comedy and fun celebrity testimonials, explores the issues and solutions for getting women back to work. The show will air on The CW Network on Wednesday, August 26 (8:00-9:00pm ET) and then move to The CW digital platforms, CWTV.COM and The CW App.

Talent confirmed for the special thus far include Mara Brock Akil, Lake Bell, Alison Brie, Connie Britton, Nkechi Okoro Carroll, Rosario Dawson, Beanie Feldstein, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Garner, Elizabeth Gillies, Kathryn Hahn, Rachael Harris, Cheryl Hines, Sarah Jeffery, Marta Kauffman, Javicia Leslie, Melanie Liburd, Catt Sadler, Andrea Savage, Alexandra Shipp, Rain Valedz, Michaela Watkins, Kym Whitley, Alfre Woodard and others to be announced. The show's executive producers are Stephanie Allain ("Dear White People," the 2020 Academy Awards), Amy Baer ("Last Vegas") and Monica Levinson ("Borat"). The directors are Hannah Levy ("Saturday Night Live") and Adriana Robles ("Saturday Night Live"). The writers are Wendy Button (CNN's "Heroes"), Simbi Hall (Women That Soar Awards) and Mishy Turner ("Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt").

Hire Her Back (HHB) was launched on June 10, 2020 as a call for industry-wide action to rebuild a workforce that hires women and people of color equitably as we recover from the COVID-19 crisis. ...

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2020/08/04/the-cw-network-to-air-women-in-film-presents-make-it-work-a-variety-show-to-benefit-the-wif-hire-her-back-campaign-636215/20200804cw01/

[Trini]

Mara Brock Akil's part of the WIF special: 'Showrunners'

 

Also a donation link for the organization on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9wYmUSaTFk

 

[Trini]

'Mara Brock Akil Inks Overall Deal With Netflix'

Doesn't say if this affects Black Lightning (I don't think it does).

[Trini]

Chantal Thuy is one of the guests in a season 2 episode of Family Style:

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S2, E1 (11:45)

Heroes

Amanda and Parvesh head to Âu Lạc LA to hang with DC Arrowverse heroes Osric Chau (“Crisis on Infinite Earths”) and Chantal Thuy (“Black Lightning”) to talk about what keeps them in HERO shape, and what eating clean means to them. We then catch up with Jim Lee, Chief Creative Officer of DC, to discover which superhero inspired him the most growing up.

 

https://www.stage13.com/shows/family-style/

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“Family Style” and the Foodie Fam cast invite you to pull up a chair and join our group of friends and celebrity guests to explore popular Asian food restaurants and cultural locales! This season showcases a diverse array of Asian chefs, celebrities, and foodies across multiple generations, sharing favorite recipes, traditions, and locations representing various Asian backgrounds. With episodes shot on location and also virtually, we address our continued need for connectivity with others and the importance of supporting the Asian community in these unprecedented times.

 

[Trini]

Thunder and Nafessa will be featured in DC Pride #1:

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DC Pride #1 will also include full-page profiles of DCTV’s LGBTQIA+ characters paired with Q&A’s from the actors who play them. Javicia Leslie (Batwoman aka Ryan Wilder), Matt Ryan (John Constantine), Nicole Maines (Dreamer aka Nia Nal), Matt Bomer (Negative Man aka Larry Trainor), and Nafessa Williams (Thunder aka Anissa Pierce) all reflect on the characters they portray and talk about the impact their roles have made on themselves personally, and on fans who might have never seen LGBTQIA+ characters in live-action superhero roles before.

 

[Trini]

If Painkiller gets picked up, we might not see much of NewJen since ABC just decided to pick up The Wonder Years, and Laura Kariuki is in the main cast.

[Primal Slayer]

According to someone who works BTS, Cress wanted out of the show so I guess it was a lucky draw that they ended it.

[Trini]

Jordan Calloway has a supporting role in a new CBS show premiering in the Fall; Fire Country.

http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2022/05/18/cbs-unveils-its-2022-2023-primetime-lineup-792001/20220518cbs01/