The Playlist

Watch: First Trailer For Lee Daniels' 'The Butler' Starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard & Much More

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 7, 2013 7:28 PM
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22 Comments

News

Talk around "Precious" and "The Paperboy" director Lee Daniels' next effort "The Butler" has ranged from the director himself comparing it to a work-for-hire gig, calling it a "big compromise" from his usually more button pushing fare to Terrence Howard talking about his co-star Oprah Winfrey's "tig ol' bitties" (yes, that's how he said it). But enough talk, what does the final result look like? Well, here you go...

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David Oyelowo Talks The '70s Influences Of 'Jack Reacher,' Says Lee Daniels' 'The Butler' Is 'Forrest Gump'-Esque

By Drew Taylor
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December 21, 2012 12:24 PM
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1 Comment

Interviews

David Oyelowo is one of those actors who has had a very, very good year. He started off 2012 by being a part of George Lucas' World War II epic "Red Tails," made a splash with the Cannes debut of Lee Daniels' pulpy "The Paperboy," and is closing out the year with two high-profile performances – he can be seen briefly at the start of Steven Spielberg's beloved "Lincoln" and stars as one of the heavies in the hotly anticipated "Jack Reacher," where he stars alongside Tom Cruise in the first adaptation of Lee Child's wildly popular book series.

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Janis Joplin Biopic Starring Amy Adams Back On, Lee Daniels To Direct

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 16, 2012 11:26 PM
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14 Comments

News

The year was 2010, and at the time Amy Adams was attached to play famed rocker Janis Joplin with "City Of God" helmer Fernando Meirelles to helm. Or that was at least the plan. And then there was nothing heard again about a biopic until earlier this year when "Martha Marcy May Marlene" helmer Sean Durkin signed up for "Joplin" with Nina Arianda in the lead role. And now, there is some fierce competition from Adams, as her movie is back moving, not only eyeing a similar start date but bringing a name director along with it.

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Lee Daniels Says 'The Butler' The Closest He's Come To Doing "Work-For-Hire," Calls It "A Big Compromise"

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 5, 2012 10:17 AM
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0 Comments

News

If you can say anything about Lee Daniels, it's that he's got a distinct voice. Whether it always works is another topic entirely, but over the course of the three films now -- "Shadowboxer" (which got a great Commentary Of The Damned feature at the AV Club), awards horse "Precious" and the pulpy, divisive "The Paperboy" -- he has made pictures that are completely his own. But it seems that his next effort, "The Butler," which boasts yet another star-studded ensemble, will see the director dialing it back a bit.

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NYFF: Lee Daniels Reveals How Oprah Winfrey Rejected 'The Paperboy,' Talks The Down & Dirty Production Logistics

By Gabe Toro
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October 3, 2012 6:49 PM
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3 Comments

Festivals

Murder. Lust. Intrigue. Watersports. Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" is not your usual festival fare. Screening at the New York Film Festival, however, director Lee Daniels was able to give context to this schizophrenic mystery, based on the Pete Dexter novel about a possibly innocent murderer on Death Row, the journalists tasked with freeing him, and the young man who falls for the inmate's fiancée.

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Review: Lee Daniels' 'The Paperboy' With Matthew McConaughey & Nicole Kidman Is A Disastrous Flop

By James Rocchi
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October 2, 2012 2:03 PM
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23 Comments

Reviews

Many people will tell you that "The Paperboy" -- based on Pete Dexter's novel, brought to the screen by "Precious" director Lee Daniels -- is a trash masterpiece, an instant camp classic, so bad it's good. These people, these critics, are simply not to be trusted about any question of judgment for a long time based on that half-hearted ironic "endorsement" of one of the worst films of the year, never mind at Cannes. Like the patina on a bronze roof, there are two ways to acquire trashterpiece/camp/so-bad-it's-good status. One is through time, and patience, as entropy and erosion bring down the bright gleam to a more interesting set of colors and nuanced shades; the other is to spray it on artificially with a hose, with plenty of spillage and waste, toxic and cheap and jumped-up and unconvincing.

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Lee Daniels & Hugh Jackman Will Try Teaming Again On MLK Assassination Film 'Orders To Kill'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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July 31, 2012 11:07 PM
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2 Comments

News

Try as they might, so far, Lee Daniels and Hugh Jackman just haven't been able to make a movie together. Over two years ago, the actor was lining up to play segregation enforcer Sheriff Jim Clark in the director's civil rights tale "Selma," which never was able to get in front of cameras. And then, earlier this year, Jackman was sought out for a role in Daniels' currently shooting "The Butler" but it never worked out due to "The Wolverine" schedule, which is also rolling in front of cameras at the moment. But by golly, they're hoping the third time's the charm.

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Lee Daniels' 'The Paperboy' Will Land On Theater Doorsteps On October 5th

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 20, 2012 3:34 PM
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7 Comments

News

Critics were not kind to Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month. Reviews were vicious, and we called it "a lurid, florid, humid, flaccid and insipid waste of time and money for the audience and for everyone who made it." While the starry cast -- Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack, Nicole Kidman, David Oyelowo and more -- combined with a retro story promised potential awards season material, that seemed to have been snuffed out by the film's reception on the Croisette. But don't tell that to Millenium Entertainment.

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Discuss: Are You Racist If You Don't Like 'The Paperboy'?

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 28, 2012 3:31 PM
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34 Comments

News

To say filmmaker Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" is the most controversial film at Cannes is a massive understatement. A pulpy, tart and sordid-sounding Southern potboiler that features moments like Nicole Kidman's character urinating on Zac Efron to cure a jellyfish wound (among other apparent follies), Daniels' follow-up to the well-recieved, but still polarizing "Precious," has been called everything from a "transcendentally awful piece of filmmaking" akin to "Showgirls," to an "instant trash masterpiece." Our reviewer from Cannes pulled no punches either describing the film as a "disastrous flop" and going as far as to claim anyone hailing it as a "camp classic" should not be trusted by the general public (and to even things out, here's another Playlist contributor who prefers it to Daniels' past work).

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Cannes Review: Lee Daniels' 'The Paperboy' With Matthew McConaughey & Nicole Kidman Is A Disastrous Flop

By James Rocchi
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May 24, 2012 8:08 AM
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37 Comments

Reviews

Many people will tell you that "The Paperboy" -- based on Pete Dexter's novel, brought to the screen by "Precious" director Lee Daniels -- is a trash masterpiece, an instant camp classic, so bad it's good. These people, these critics, are simply not to be trusted about any question of judgment for a long time based on that half-hearted ironic "endorsement" of one of the worst films of the year, never mind at Cannes. Like the patina on a bronze roof, there are two ways to acquire trashterpiece/camp/so-bad-it's-good status. One is through time, and patience, as entropy and erosion bring down the bright gleam to a more interesting set of colors and nuanced shades; the other is to spray it on artificially with a hose, with plenty of spillage and waste, toxic and cheap and jumped-up and unconvincing.

More: