Wednesday 29 June 2016

2015 Video: Gugu Mbatha-Raw: CONCUSSION

The Movie Times

Gugu Mbatha-Raw: CONCUSSION
Published on 15 Dec 2015
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Video: 2014: Gugu Mbatha-Raw returns home to Witney, Oxfordshire and talks about her new film Belle

Watch: Gugu Mbatha-Raw talks about filming Belle and coming home to Witney to show it off

Watch: Gugu Mbatha-Raw talks about filming Belle and coming home to Witney to show it off
Watch: Gugu Mbatha-Raw talks about filming Belle and coming home to Witney to show it off

Gugu Mbatha-Raw returns home to Witney and talks about her new film Belle



Oxford Mail 
Published on 15 Jun 2014
Witney-born actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw returned home on Saturday, June 14, for a special screening of he new movie Belle at the town's Cineworld


Gugu Mbatha-Raw Brings History to Life in Free State of Jones


Gugu Mbatha-Raw Brings History to Life in Free State of Jones


Gugu Mbatha-Raw attends the photo call for "Free State Of Jones" at on May 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
Alberto E. Rodriguez—Getty ImagesGugu Mbatha-Raw attends the photo call for "Free State Of Jones" at on May 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

The actress stars as a runaway slave who joins a rebellion against the Confederate Army




In recent years, screens big and small have seen such an uptick in stories about slavery—from Django Unchained and 12 Years a Slave to TV’s Underground and Roots remake—that some black actors have criticized Hollywood’s appetite for depicting brutality against black people, citing a lack of imagination for other periods in African-American history. But the British actor Gugu Mbatha-Raw, 33, who stars opposite Matthew McConaughey in this summer’s Free State of Jones, begs to differ.
“This movie isn’t just about slavery,” she says. “Often you see villainous slave owners and victimized slaves.”Jones, on the other hand, depicts poor white farmers joining runaway slaves to form an uprising. “It’s about how people can be united in the fight for freedom,” she says.
And, as the story goes, for love. Free State of Jones is based on the true story of Newton “Newt” Knight (McConaughey), a Confederate Army deserter who led a rebellion against a South he believed was enlisting poor farmers to fight for the interests of rich men, namely cotton and slaves. (That’s according to the movie’s telling, anyway—historians still debate his true motivations.) Mbatha-Raw plays Rachel, a runaway slave who joins the insurrection and later marries Newt, becoming one of the few black women to own land in Mississippi.
Mbatha-Raw, who in recent years starred in Concussion and Beyond the Lights, still has to pinch herself from time to time. Her plan was never to become a movie star. Growing up in Oxfordshire, England, she fell in love with dancing at the age of 4 and then, after playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at 11, musical theater. She spent her youth taking the bus the 6o miles in to London to see West End productions of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, feeling no closer, in her words, than “a million miles from Hollywood.”
So she pursued a stage career, studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and spending six years on the London theater scene. Just as that world felt like it was beginning to close in on her, a production of Hamlet in which she played Ophelia opposite Jude Law got a Broadway transfer, and she moved to America to live the New York dream she’d fantasized about while watching Friends as a child.
Rachel Knight is the second little-known historical figure Mbatha-Raw has brought to life—the first was Dido Elizabeth Belle, an 18th century biracial aristocrat, in the 2013 drama Belle—and her performance firms up the actor’s uncanny knack for making centuries-old history feel jarringly proximate.
“I found it fascinating—she lived this double life between the plantation and the rebels. The courage that must have taken!” says Mbatha-Raw. She got into character by exploring Louisiana’s swamplands, a great deal of which are largely unchanged since the time when Rachel met Newt across the state line in Mississippi. “It’s helpful to go to the place where my character may have stood,” she says. “To be out there in the swamps, to smell the magnolia trees. I find that so informative on a sensory level.”
Though McConaughey may get top billing, Free State of Jones is largely about the role of women during wartime—both slaves like Rachel and white Southerners, like Newt’s first wife Serena (Keri Russell), left behind by husbands called to war. The Knights’ arrangement was far from perfect—Reconstruction replaced the violence of slavery with new forms of cruelty—but it still resulted in whites and blacks living harmoniously, if only in one little corner of the South. Even Serena lived alongside her former husband and his new wife. As Mbatha-Raw says, quoting director Gary Ross’s script, “Wars make strange families.”
Some of Mbatha-Raw’s most prominent roles to date may be drawn from history, but the coming year will see her take on characters from the future (she stars in the forthcoming J.J. Abrams sci-fi flick God Particle) and from fairytales (she plays the chambermaid turned feather duster Plumette in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast). But the challenges are universal. “Time marches on,” she says. “But human beings still worry about the same things.”

Saturday 25 June 2016

10 Times Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Style Was Absolutely Flawless

10 Times Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Style Was Absolutely Flawless  

10 Times Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Style Was Absolutely Flawless  
ROBIN PLATZER/ZUMA; REX/SHUTTERSTOCK (2); FREDERICK M. BROWN/GETTY; JON FURNISS/CORBIS
Best known for films like Belle and Beyond the Lights, actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s career is hitting new heights this week, thanks to a starring role alongside Matthew McConaughey in the Civil War drama, Free State of Jones. And off-screen? She’s soaring as well, at least style-wise.
The 33-year-old has become one to watch the last few years because of her feminine, yet modern, fashion choices. And her stylist, Cristina Ehrlich, says her look is evolving now more than ever. “Gugu will always gravitate towards dresses that are classic and polished, but recently we’ve been experimenting a lot more,” says Ehrlich.
One major turning point was the bold yellow Narciso Rodriguez gown that she wore to the NAACP Image Awards in February. "I wasn't sure how she would feel about the cutouts or the bright color, but she was totally game,” says Ehrlich. “She knew that it was sexy, but it still had a sophistication and a cool factor. It was a big moment for her."
Mbatha-Raw has also recently stunned in an embossed look by Louis Vuitton, a vibrant purple Prada number, and a handful of cheeky creations by Burberry, one of her favorite fashion houses. "She is very open to trying new things—colors, silhouettes, even designers,” says Ehrlich.
We can’t wait to see what she wears next. Keep scrolling to see 10 of our faves, so far.

Thursday 23 June 2016

Video: Gugu Mbatha-Raw: FREE STATE OF JONES Interview - The Movie Times

Gugu Mbatha-Raw: FREE STATE OF JONES

The Movie Times
Published on 15 Jun 2016
Don't wait in line! Buy movie tickets in over 60 countries at http://movie-times.net. Plus interviews with the people who make the movies you love, international film festival coverage, global box office and news, and the world's greatest video store! We deliver!



Video: Go Behind the Scenes of Free State of Jones (2016)


Go Behind the Scenes of Free State of Jones (2016)



FilmIsNow Movie Bloopers & Extras 

'Free State of Jones' Premiere: Cast, Director Want Viewers to Start a Conversation

'Free State of Jones' Premiere: Cast, Director Want Viewers to Start a Conversation

Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Getty Images

"I think there’s a burden when you’re dealing with this type of material to make sure people understand what’s true and what isn’t. I took that burden seriously," says director-writer Gary Ross.

Hollywood gathered at the Directors Guild Theater in Los Angeles on Tuesday for the premiere of Free State of Jones, the true story of a rebellious and anti-Confederate Southern farmer, Newt Knight.
Matthew McConaughey plays Knight, but he wasn't present at the premiere. Those who were, though, including the cast and writer-director Gary Ross, made it clear they don't want moviegoers to forget about this film after watching.
Bill Tangradi, who plays a Confederate lieutenant, told The Hollywood Reporter that he hopes Free State of Jones will leave people with questions.
"I just hope that this film just creates a conversation, that it creates a discourse -- an ongoing discourse about race in America, about the role of sovereignty in America and an individual’s will to try and affect change, no matter what your race is," Tangradi said.
"Ongoing" was a commonly used term throughout the evening among the cast, in an effort to reiterate the idea that the issues present in the film and throughout history haven't necessarily been solved.
Thomas Francis Murphy, who plays a Confederate general, referenced this by quoting William Faulkner, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."
"I hope they [moviegoers] take away a bit of that," Murphy continued. "This is not something that just goes away. It’s an ongoing story.”
Kerry Cahill, who depicts Mary in the film, similarly thinks that by taking a look at the past, people will be able to better move forward.
"What I really hope is that they [moviegoers] have an understanding that the Civil War and American policy pre- and post-Civil War was a lot more grey than it seems -- that it's been a lot more complex and we're still affected by policies post-Civil War," Cahill told The Hollywood Reporter. "If you know your own history, then you can move forward better because you know you're standing on solid ground."
Those who see Free State of Jones will definitely get their fair share of history. Ross told The Hollywood Reporter, "I didn't make much up and I want people to see the primary sources so they can realize that for themselves.”
Viewers won't have to go searching on their own to fact-check the movie, though. Ross compiled his 10 years worth of research to create a website with annotations for different topics and scenes in the film.
“To me, it’s very important for people to understand what’s true and what isn’t so that they can find the story to be reliable and to know what I fictionalized and what I did not," Ross told THR. "I think there’s a burden when you’re dealing with this type of material to make sure people understand what’s true and what isn’t. I took that burden seriously.”
While the cast may not have invested the amount of time Ross did in preparation for Free State of Jones, they were sure to do their research in order to fully understand their characters.
Mahershala Ali, who plays escaped slave and Knight's friend, Moses, toldTHR that he not only did his fair share of reading, but put a lot of effort into understanding the time period -- particularly by finding and listening to relevant music.
However, for many of the cast, they had never even heart of Newt Knight or his story.
To Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Rachel in the film, this is why Free State of Jones is so unique.
"It's really sort of a refreshing look at the Civil War, also the Reconstruction era after the Civil War," Mbatha-Raw told THR. "There’s not that many movies that I’ve scene about that struggle. Also, the fact that it’s about white farmers and escaped slaves uniting together as opposed to against each other -- I thought that was a refreshing idea. And the fact that it’s a true story was really pioneering for its time.”
This slightly unheard of aspect of the war was a big part of what Ross wanted to highlight for audiences.
"I hope that they [moviegoers] learn that the Civil War went all the way through to 1876 and that’s a tremendously important thing for all us to realize -- that it didn’t end with a happy ending when the slaves were freed in 1865," Ross said. "No sooner were they free when there was re-enslavement in 1876. I think that it’s really important to remember when you only look at one little slice of history, you can make yourself feel better as an American that there was a happy ending to the Civil War -- but there was not.”
Free State of Jones will hit theaters Friday.