DL Fave Avs DuVernay signs $100 million deal with Warner Bros

Good for Ava. She's fantastically talented and quite smart about the business angles.

It's nice to see her career recover from the enormous misstep of not getting HRT his Selma screener in a timely fashion.

Because A Wrinkle in Time did so well...

R2 Exactly. How many AWiTs is she going to turn out? If this is coming off the back of 13th, I can't see why a studio would invest that much in a writer/director based on a documentary.

They must know something we don't.

...and DLer's heads EXPLODE!

This is amusing given her attempt to make a successful big budget movie bombed hard both critically and commercially.

I'm not mad about this at all. How many straight, white male directors get chance after chance after chance and multi million dollar deal after multi million dollar deal after flop after flop after flop.

[quote] This is amusing given her attempt to make a successful big budget movie bombed hard both critically and commercially.

Your comments are amusing given:

[quote] How many straight, white male directors get chance after chance after chance and multi million dollar deal after multi million dollar deal after flop after flop after flop.

She is so smug on the socials.

[quote]She is so smug

Code. Just go ahead and call her what you really want to call her.

She's not that good a director. Selma was just so so and Wrinkle was, well, pretty bad.

Guess WB has cash to spare.

R7 You beat me to it and took the words right out of my mouth.

R10 Do tell what "smug" is code for? Smug is smug. Alec Baldwin is smug. Bill Maher is smug. I find Rachel Maddow smug. Taylor Swift, Beyonce, the list is long. She's had people blowing smoke up her ass for the past 2 years so smug wouldn't be surprising.

Since when did she become a DL Fave??

Well if seen through the lens of political payback against white male privilege, then I guess this is AWESOME. But I assess a person's output based on their...output. A Wrinkle in Time fucking sucked. Utter piece of shit. She was really smug about not really being into the source material too, and instead focusing more on creating a vehicle for diversity. A noble intention, indeed.

Again, though, the movie fucking sucked. And she sucks as a filmmaker based on that. Who knows. Maybe she has something solid in her. But you know what would be crazy-awesome? A black female filmmaker who is an auteur. Ryan Coogler is an auteur. The guy has unimpeachable cinematic vision.

This one hasn't displayed anything close to that.

I didn't watch A Wrinkle in Time, because it was a kids' movie and I'm not a kid. I like Ryan Coogler a great deal, but calling him an auteur is fucking silly. Disney doesn't hire auteurs to direct comic book movies.

R10, ok, she’s smug bitch with not much narrative talent, better now? She was so rude to Stallone when he forgot to thank Ryan Coogler at the Golden Globes.

[quote]Well. I'm gonna go ahead and thank RYAN COOGLER + MICHAEL B. JORDAN since no one else is. Thank you, brothers. Good work. #smh #goldenglobes

When someone said she came back and apologised and thanked them on stage during the commercial break, she was all OMG I love him.

She used to kiss Weinstein's ass on Twitter all the time

R16, Dee Rees could end up being great, based on “Pariah” and “Mudbound.” And I still have hope for a Kasi Lemmons comeback, even if “Eve’s Bayou” is over twenty years old and nothing she did since then was nearly as good (and “The Caveman’s Valentine” and “Talk to Me” were still works by a director with a strong vision).

She and her sistahs will be complaining that it wasn't $200 million.

You guys don't hold people accountable in the same ways. No one on here scrutinizes straight, white male directors like this. People on DL love to trash gay and female directors and directors of color. That $100 million deal is still probably a fraction of what the straight, white boys get. But some of you are still bent out of shape about it.

I'm not asking you to praise a director that you honestly feel lacks talent. I just asking you to spread your bile around. Get everybody dirty

She’s annoying to me. She seems like too much of a womansplaining advocate and publicist than a true artist.

R23 She was an industry publicist. She didn't even pick up a camera until age 32.

Lies, r22. People make fun of Spielberg, Stone, Scott, Wright, Fincher, Nolan, Bay etc all the time.

If SELMA hasn’t been a dull TV film only saved by David Oyelowo and the music and if she hadn’t publically shown such disrespect for the novel of AWIT (and the biracial main girl acted very well and had nothing to do with how poorly paced and conceived her vision was) and if she didn’t consistently set herself up as a moral arbiter on Twitter she would get nothing but the usual DL ribbing.

She is talentless. She had a Hundred Million to make Wrinkle in Time. She had Disney's special effects team. She had Chris Pin's Blue Eyes. She had OPRAH!!!! And it still sucked and was boring as hell. Fuck diversity. Give me the best man or woman with the most talent regardless of race, what bathroom they choose to use, and whom they Fuck!!

I'd never heard of her until last year. Is she the anointed "Diversity Hire" Hollywood can point to now and say, "We support Black female directors, see?"

I don't know. She's talented, if not genius. I think she's better on the small screen. Selma was good, and did fairly well BO, if not the awards bait some thought it would be. The 13th was excellent, but it was "just" a documentary. Queen Sugar is excellent, but it's not that big of a show. A Wrinkle In Time was a "flop" considering her budget. But, look, there's always gonna be someone in Hollywood who gets a development deal and they don't end up justifying the amount. I don't get why people get so outraged when it's anything other than a white male. Maybe AD won't produce enough valuable content to justify the deal, but she'd hardly be the first person to fall short of expectations. It's the nature of the business. I don't see the problem.

If Warners want to throw their money away, its their choice.

You see it all the time from a select few on this site, which I guess reflects the larger world. It's somehow that black people are getting things that they don't deserve. Or they are playing the race card or they are too uppity and smug. There is always some reason. They hand these types of deals out all the time. Talk to me when she's getting a cut of the box office and other perks that certain, underperforming directors get.

Zack Snyder's a hack director. The only thing that really made money was his reboot of Dawn of the Dead and 300. Watchman and Sucker Punch bombed. Don't even get me started on MoS/Justice League.

And that's white male privilege in a nutshell.

Too much ignorance and racism for one thread.

She directed FOUR feature-films before A Wrinkle in Time, including a Best Picture nominee. She is the creator of Queen Sugar, an severely underrated TV series on OWN now entering its FOURTH season. She is currently filming a Central Park Five limited series for Netflix.

Let's list some of the white male directors who directed ONE indie film before going on to direct big summer blockbusters:

Colin Trevorrow - Safety Not Guaranteed > Jurassic World > The Book of Henry

Josh Trank - Chronicle > Fantastic Four

Jordan Vogt-Roberts - The Kings of Summer > Kong: Skull Island

Gareth Edwards - Monsters > Godzilla > Rogue One:

Marc Webb - 500 Days of Summer > The Amazing Spider-Man

We won't even mention the endless number of "big name" directors who constantly turn out shit year after year. The fact that she was the FIRST black woman to direct a film with $100 million budge says it all.

R20 Dee Rees has already proven herself with Pariah, Bessie, and Mudbound. But, Hollywood won't let her be great. Maybe after her next film which stars Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, and Willem Dafoe.

Kasi Lemmons is among that small group of black women filmmakers who never got their shot because of racism and misogyny. You can also add Julie Dash, Darnell Martin, Euzhan Palcy, and Cheryl Dunye to that list. Lemmons is currently working on the Harriet Tubman biopic, but I fear it will be overshadowed by the one Viola Davis is filming for HBO.

R32, get real, the reason why Ava DuVerbay is mocked is because she started in PR and it is all too obvious her forte is self-promotion and not direction. That she is frequently misguided, pompous and often plain offensive in her social media outlay doesn’t help.

Her documentaries are fine. Her feature films are mediocre.

But I guess Y’all Jus Jellus of this Queen.

Yeah, Ava is the byword in Annoying Celebrity. Like DL makes fun of Lena Waite's Vanity Fair cover, but few have mocked her work or her politics, because, she is had produced good shit in that regard.

She’s a total phony. A pretender to filmmaking. She has the talent for directing that Madonna showed for acting. It’s not her forte.

Well, it would be nice if she had talent. Say what you want but Selma is NOT a good movie, kind of stuff you watch the afternoon while ironing your shirts.

She's a hack and certainly takes the spot to actual good black film maker because she's good at PR.

Agree with R36 and R37. I'm Black and a huge film lover and see her as a rude, phoney hack who makes boring movies. Her platform is so pro woman and so pro Black that no one dares call her phoney ass out. A publicity pro.

Oprah has got to be involved somehow in this. WB has the expectation of getting O in multiple projects ADV produces.

Oprah was already in a Wrinkle of Disaster.

She must want to do other Black female empowerment movies. Those movies being terrible are so not a problem when you have too much money and times in your hands.

poor hag $ wont buy her real hair?

I'll take other Afro-American female directors over the 'Visionary', as the trailer for A Piece of Shit in the Time proclaimed DuVernay to be. Selma and her earlier films were good at best.

Give me more from Darnell Martin (I Like It Like Than), Dee Rees (Mudbound & Pariah) & Kasi Lemmons (Eye's Bayou) any day over the self-absorbed DuVernay any day thanks. Those three have more talent in the little fingers than DuVernay has ever displayed in her entire 'career'.

Urgh! That should be I Like It Like That & Eve's Bayou.

[quote]No one on here scrutinizes straight, white male directors like this.

Are you new here? Straight white male directors get criticized plenty on DL. Check out the Christopher Nolan threads.

DuVernay's going to direct the New Gods movie for DC, which is guaranteed to suck.

For those of you who aren't familiar with comics, the characters called the New Gods have been around for decades and never really caught on, despite DC pushing them hard over the years. They've always been very niche, even in the comics world, and have never had a huge level of interest. I can't imagine an entire movie based around them.

R45 Well if its another nail if the coffin of her career I'm all for it.

She sure has a way with words......

“They love and support artists in wonderful and nourishing ways. They work within a traditional studio headed by Kevin Tsujihara that is stirring with untraditional energy and fresh protocols for intentional, inclusive image-making. Warner Bros is a terrific partner about matters of visibility and belonging for all kinds and cultures of people, which is our mission at Forward Movement”

Selma was beautiful.

Selma was boring and weak while it should have been intense and epic.

She has the same writing style as Meghan Markle, pompous and shallow at the same time.

What a sad life you mist live R49

[quote]DuVernay's going to direct the New Gods movie for DC, which is guaranteed to suck.

New Gods needs to be an epic piece of filmmaking and I can't understand why she's been entrusted with that after she badly bungled A Wrinkle in Time.

She is so good at small and intimate, though -- Queen Sugar is incredible.

R50 Sure my life is sad but I'm not blind enough to think Selma is a great movie.

It's the average well-intentioned movie your history teacher shows you once a year because he is tired students don't listen to him.

R52 As you well know you are in the tiny minority that have that opinion, among both seasoned critics and regular viewers.

And we all know why you don't like Ava and have been triggered by her success. You're not nearly as subtle as you seem to think you are

According to Rotten Tomatos, Selma was 99% fresh.

R53 Go out of your US race bubble. Where I live the critics trashed the movie calling it boring because it is.

12YAS was 1000 times better and Ava is far to be as talented as Steve McQueen or even Spike Lee.

Oscars and critics kissed Ava's ass because it was about MLK and because she's female and black, not because the movie was good.

If the critics have been objective, people like you would have called them racists.

Selma sucks, Ava sucks, you suck.

And where do you live R55? Please share these terrible reviews with us. And no r/the_donald does not count as a country of residence.

AWIT was a shit movie. She was so arrogant to ignore the source material.

In other words, the movie sucks.

She could do a lot to give real artists great opportunities with her new found power. I consider her utterly mediocre but she could do a lot of good in this new position.

If "ignoring the source material" means changing the race of some characters you're an idiot. And a racist

What R59 says, she could push real black talents but she doesn't because of her ego.

An other one, it SUCKS.

Note that all the reviews I'm posting comes from left-wing anti-racist newspapers

And now R56, you can fuck off.

SELMA and AVA suck.

I wanted to like Selma more than i did. I agree it was a movie largely elevated by Oyelowo.

LMFAO no I'm not going to fuck off. You're screaming into the void right now because again, you're in the minority, and hate that so many people loved Selma and that she is being recognized for it. No one cares that your bothered

R65 Well, you wanted me to post bad reviews, I had.

If you and so many people have bad taste, it's not my problem.

"So many people" = The vast majority of critics and viewers in the films country of origin.

R67 Well, the vast majority being too PC to say what they think about the movie.

By the way, thinking Selma sucks doesn't mean hating MLK, only in your head.

I doubt Warner would have given a white female director a $100M contract if they had Avas shitty track record.

That is somewhat racist R68 to assume that film critics were somehow lowering their standards to praise this film. And R69 is just throwing his racism out there.

R68 It's kind of sad that rather than just accept Black culture and cinema becoming more and more mainstream you have to concoct a fantasy world for yourself where everyone secretly thinks like you, but is afraid to say so. The same red pill, blue pill nonsense you hear from frustrated teenagers all over reddit.

Nope R70 and R71, all I say is that rather than judging the movies qualities people praise it because it's an important movie about an very important black figure made by a black female director.

And don't dare to tell me it has no influence on how US critics will speak about the movie.

R72 You keep saying just critics, even though it's been pointed out to you several times now that viewers rated it almost as highly.

Viewers also rate highly every Marvel movies, does it make Marvel movies some Masterpieces?

r60 you obviously never read the book. She changed several things that were not necessary.

Since you argue that wipe-spread appreciation of Selma only comes because it's director is Black, what's causing the critics to rate Avengers highly?

You're argument makes no sense. You hate the film because it has a Black director. Can't accept that most people in this country don't share views like yours (Thank God) and are speaking nonsense

Your*

R76 Because Marvel movies are some pop-corn flicks and people have no expectations besides having some fun. I mean, perhaps? Marvel movies don't need to be Masterpiece for people thinking they're good enough for what they are : mindless entertainment.

It's like comparing a Francis F Coppola movie with some Twilight shit.

R78 The difference is that critics slammed Twilight, and have little love for many of the Marvel movies. On Selma, critics AND viewers agree

R79 Sure, and you also think Selma deserved its Best movie nomination at the Oscar? You also think it has the same quality as Moonlight or 12 Years a slave, which are actual good movies?

R53 Get over yourself. There are plenty that were underwhelmed by Selma and we're fine.

R80 Yes I found it more powerful than 12YAS because the setting was more contemporary. My mother lived through most of those events.

The casting, writing, cinematography was all great. The bridge crossing stayed with me for days. But they also included completely original plotlines like Oprah's character trying to vote over and over

Is there someone working for Warner Brothers here? People are allowed to have opinions. The thread started off with some saying Ava's a weak filmmaker, full of herself, etc. If you think Selma was great, then whatever.

[quote] People are allowed to have opinions.

Yes including people that like Ava's films

R84 Exactly what I was saying, you missed the point. The point is don't cut somebody down and automatically call racism or sexism or horrible taste if they don't like one of her movies.

R82 I "liked" two scenes in the movie: the opening scene with the little girls, it was powerful and terrible, and when they show the real footages.

Being moved because the story is close to your heart is not quite the same as being amazed by a scene.

Oh grow up R85 The poster I was arguing with says everyone is too afraid to be honest and is blinded by PC culture and you don't see me whining that my feelings are hurt

R87 You're not? Oh, okay.

Didn't Ryan Murphy just sign a $300 million dollar deal with Netflix? I'm now actually kinda surprised by that. The way DL complain about how his anthology series fall apart and fall short of the glory so many people expect especially when it's still in the promotional stage right before a new season starts up.

The excitement is high, the anticipation is high and then the new season starts, and you can see constant inconsistencies in the writing. And not one queen DL moaned about his $300 million dollar contract with Netflix when it was announced earlier this year when there was a thread on it.

But there's an issue when Warner bros throws $100 million at a black woman for her to create content.

DL your bias is showing. Ryan Murphy ain't all that. He's good, but not great and DL points it out all the time.

But he's a gay white man so he deserves it right?

As uneven as Ryan Murphy's shows are, they still make money. DL has acknowledged this. Throwing $100 million at a director whose one and only big-budget movie was a massive flop is not the same thing.

R67 is Parisian trash.

R90 The list of white men who have flop after flop at the box office for years on end. And continue to receive ungodly sums of money to produce more garbage that no one sees is a very long list of very white men.

The same with white actors. Bomb after bomb, but they keep getting put in huge big budget films. And they keep cashing huge checks they don't deserve.

But their white men so they deserve it right?

I don't have a problem with her getting the deal - as others have noted, there are a lot of people who have gotten sweet film deals who ultimately never produced or whose work is spotty at best. I have a bigger problem with her taking an actual historical event and turning it into Harry Potter Fanfiction.

From the Washington Post:

[quote]The makers of the new movie “Selma” apparently just couldn’t resist taking dramatic, trumped-up license with a true story that didn’t need any embellishment to work as a big-screen historical drama. As a result, the film falsely portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson as being at odds with Martin Luther King Jr. and even using the FBI to discredit him, as only reluctantly behind the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and as opposed to the Selma march itself.

THAT is what she ought to be criticized for, not playing the Hollywood game well enough to score a deal.

r92 those flop directors/actors were already big names with proven track records when the flops started. After a couple flops their careers suffered. See Renny Harlin, Joe Ezterhas, Brian DePalma, etc.

A director or actor with one flop right out of the gate doesn't generally get big money thrown at them.

That's pretending Selma didn't happen before AWIT R94

LBJ was a fucking racist. I can absolutely believe he was reluctant about signing the civil rights act. He was a white man from the south. He was no different than John Wayne. LBJ just happened to be a democrat.

Other than that he was your typical racist bigoted white male. Who still exist in today's world.

Selma wasn't a big blockbuster tentpole movie.

R94 Keeps moving the goal post. I see you.

Selma was more of a critical success than a big event movie that put asses in seats in theaters all over the world.

Sorry r98 that's just the truth. Ava Duvernay's $100 million paycheck isn't really worth it given her track record.

Ryan Murphy's work is very uneven but he still got a $300 million dollar deal. But he's white so it's fine.

R99 I agree but that's VERY different from a "flop out of the gate" which is what some are saying she had

R100 That's your opinion and WB clearly sees it differently. They don't just hand out $100 million dollars for nothing.

You sound threatened by her success. Everyone has failures and successes in entertainment. That's just what it is.

She's no different or better.

WB is hoping she can deliver with New Gods, but trust me she won't. Nobody could make that pile of shit New Gods interesting in any way.

Let's come at this from a different perspective.

Let's assume that WB had a development budget earmarked for deals with various movie makers - if not Avs, then who? Someone was going to get the money - she just happened to have ridden a wave. But, frankly, no one else springs to mind who is more deserving who is riding a 1:1 record or better.

Her strength may not be in helming a summer blockbuster fantasy film.

r103 as stated before, she's an anomaly in that she got handed $100 million without a proven track record. It's rather reckless, but I suspect with all the criticism Hollywood's been getting about representation, they just threw out a bone hoping people would shut up and be happy. Sorry, but that's what it looks like.

No one thought Ava was robbed of Best Director for SELMA but Ava.

David Oyelowo was very unlucky not to have been nominated.

Every single film nominated that year was boring AF. They might as well have given Ava the Oscar, it's not like there was anything else outstanding.

She got, "New Gods" because apparently she passed up, "Black Panther" and was very bitter about its success. So I guess WB threw her a bone with a little known property to shut her up.

People keep praising Queen Sugar but she doesn’t direct it. Only produces which is what she should limit herself too.

Ava DuVernay = Lin-Manuel Miranda = Whitney Cummings = Ryan Murphy = Shonda Rhimes = ...

Mediocrity is tolerated/subsidized because time slots, movie screens, bare stages must always have content to stare at so seats can be filled and money can be made.

The machine does not rev its engines when only talented people show up. It must keep churning and grinding and that’s where placeholders like theose mentioned above come in.

^ forgot Damien Chazelle

[quote]People keep praising Queen Sugar but she doesn’t direct it.

She directed the first two episodes, which set the tone for the series.

Selma was TV movie of the week quality. Anyone who thinks it’s great is free to rewatch. I’d be bored to tears. She seems like a mediocre director but a good producer and excellent publicist.

And Hollywood is filled with extremely white mediocre "talents" but no one says a word. Their white and the status quo is in their favor at the moment.

The list is long. Bomb after bomb after big ass nasty bomb. But it's a white man's world and the rest of us just live in it.

^^^People talk about anyone with bomb after bomb.

The reality is that the books, movies, and tv shows that are made reflect the "best" that can be made at the time. True, there is a lot that goes into even getting a chance to show your work, but in the end, no one sets out to make a bad movie. There are probably only a few people who could have made a decent version of AWiT - it's not something that makes for a good movie for modern audiences without substantial revisions to the basic story - something diehard book fans would have squealed about. I mean, even Peter Jackson bombed The Hobbit after a stellar adaptation of LotR, not to mention some of his other recent misses (King Kong, Lovely Bones).

I'm not a particularly big fan of Avs, but don't really see how she's any different from anyone else who has parlayed limited success into something bigger. When you look at someone like Josh Trank (I'm sure his defenders will say studio interference was the cause of the F4 debacle), he was given a major tentpole on limited experience and had an equally horrible bomb as AWiT. On top of that, his on set behavior was apparently unstable.

She really attractive. Kinda masc, but still pretty.

TBF, IDT Ryan Coogler is very good. Black Panther SUCKED. And they spent a billion on publicity. Officially movie + promo was $370m & that is a huge lie. But BP was a terrible movie with terrible CG

"The list is long. Bomb after bomb after big ass nasty bomb. But it's a white man's world and the rest of us just live in it."

well, yes. It is a white man's world. But you pissing and moaning that DuVernay isn't given the same country club pass to be mediocre is an absolute shit defense of her debatable talent.

it's sad that we can't judge a movie director's output solely on the substance of that output. we have to contextualize it all to the point that their identity as an artist is pretty much inconsequential.

Surely, Matt Damon, his zoo, and his ass cheeks, are all over this thread?

[quote]And Hollywood is filled with extremely white mediocre "talents" but no one says a word.

Um, no. Zack Snyder, for example, gets a ton of shit about what a hack he is.

[quote] She directed FOUR feature-films before A Wrinkle in Time, including a Best Picture nominee. She is the creator of Queen Sugar, an severely underrated TV series on OWN now entering its FOURTH season. She is currently filming a Central Park Five limited series for Netflix.

R32 You're not really helping her case. Why is Queen Sugar underrated? Is it because it's not very good or are all the critics racist? She's Oprah's darling, which means saying her show on OWN is in its FOURTH season is like saying Ivanka has a job in the WH. And who isn't filming a series for Netflix?

As others have said the celebration of intermittent mediocrity is rapidly growing. Del Toro is the latest star of this group. One or two great films every ten years and studios throw deals at them.

R123 I guess, you don't know what underrated means. Not surprising The series is critically acclaimed (Season 1 has a 93% on RT and 75 on Metacritic). But, I'm sure that doesn't matter to you haters. No, actually, everyone isn't filming a limited series for Netflix. Especially women of color.

Why do people like you who are so ill-informed on the subject continue to comment? Oh, yeah, that's right: racism and ignorance.

She has directed five feature films, four of which were critically acclaimed, two of which garnered Oscar nominations. She is also the creator of a long-running critically acclaimed series.

She is just as qualified, if not more qualified, than any other person who would have gotten the deal. (I see you choose to ignore the list of mediocre white directors who went on to direct summer blockbusters after one small indie film.)

Honestly, I shouldn't have paid your comment any more attention after seeing what you said about Del Toro, but I felt the need to after you replied to me directly. Don't worry. It won't happen again. Because, I see ignorant hate-filled racists like you (and many others on this thread) are only interested in spewing your ignorance and hate. Blocked!

As for the rest of you, whether you think Selma was a good movie or not is irrelevant. It was critically and commercially successful, and received considerable awards attention. That alone makes her just as qualified as anyone else in Hollywood to ink the deal with WB. In any case, it doesn't matter what you all think, because the deal is done. Move on with your lives!

Lol R124 R125. Go ask mommy for the binky now.

I know what underrated means, R124. You then are the one who used the word incorrectly. Unsurprising given your failure to grasp the use of English articles: "an severely underrated". So the show isn't underrated, it's unpopular. The critics aren't racist - like everyone on DL - viewers refusing to watch a show you say is sliced bread, they are the racist ones. Got it, thanks.

[quote]I guess, you don't know what underrated means.

I'm an Ava Fan (prepared to escalate to Ava Troll, dependent on BAC level). Are you suggesting that Queen Sugar deserves a 97 on RT instead of a 93? "Underrated" doesn't refer to the Nielsen ratings. People who watch Queen Sugar enjoy it. It's not underrated as much as it's another quality show incapable of getting larger market share in the era of Peak TV.

[quote]As for the rest of you, whether you think Selma was a good movie or not is irrelevant.

I don't normally preemptively ban people from Ava Fan Club, but you should not come knocking.

[quote]Why do people like you who are so ill-informed on the subject continue to comment? Oh, yeah, that's right: racism and ignorance.

No, she's not particularly talented and doesn't have much of a resume.

This is like the people who complain about the one black guy who gets into (insert top tier college here) for diversity, but they completely ignore all the legacy admissions of C average kids because someone in their family has a dorm named after them. The world will finally be fair when a mediocre person of color gets the same big deals as a mediocre white person.

You see this all the time, people of color working their asses off to only get half as far as some connected white person. But because it's so prevalent, you all don't even think about it anymore. I cut Ryan Murphy some slack because he's gay, but the truth is he is a one season wonder on every show and they just back up the Brinks truck.

r130 Ryan Murphy's shows still deliver the ratings.

R108 is a cretin.

r132 that was a SHIT year for movies, sorry.

I don't believe it

her work sux

I disliked a quarter of the following: Whiplash, Wolf of Wall Street, Ex Machina, Inherent Vice, Nightcrawler, Boyhood, Wild, Interstellar, Mommy and even John Wick, Paddington, The Kingsman, What We Do In The Shadows, The Babadook, The Dawn of the Planet Of The Apes, Big Hero 6 and Edge Of Tomorrow.

Yet one of them were better films than the Hallmark film Ava directed.

Is you see the word "ignorant" being used more than twice in a post, that poster is a black woman.

Welcome, sistahs. Take a seat, and come splashingly over your keyboards as you watch Queen Sugar!

I guarantee you R136 would swear up and down he isn't racist. That's why that phrase has no meaning

R130 That's exactly the problem, you want a world of mediocrity.

You're not saying we should fire the incompetent white men so we can hire competent people. No, you're all about let's all be mediocre together, so black and white can do shitty movies without consequences.

It's not about being better together, it's about being all shitty and mediocre because at least everyone will feel welcomed.

No wonder most incompetent man ever is POTUS.

R136 And probably DuVernay schills. She was an extremely saavy and ruthless publicist. Why wouldn’t she have some schills googling and working on crying out that “you don’t want to see/are threatened by a Black woman succeeding!” when anyone says anything about their queen? That’s her M.O. Hey schills! I’m Black and a woman and a long time reader of DL. I’m also a long time supporter of Black directors and Black film. I think Ava’s career is primarily what it is because she knows how to work the system, not from great talent. And I think Queen Sugar is terrible! Now what? Please go roost somewhere else.

R137 = ignorant.

I love R139. Let’s all crowdfund a documentary about internet shills. Are they unemployed 900. Umber workers?

Guess the schills are gone to new territory.

O YEA AND THE BIG FLOP MOVIE SHE DID WITH OPRAH !!!

SHE HAS NO LONGEVITY

BUT SHE IS ETHINIIC

YEA

I think she's talented, but it's odd that she constantly retweets one of her fan groups.

r120 & r138 utterly nail it

She claimed that she completely rewrote the Selma screenplay but because she’d made Selma a non union production, the WGA refused to consider her petition for a writing credit. Then said she didn’t fight for it because it wasn’t worth it. No Bitch, you were denied!

[quote]...she’d made Selma a non union production...

OK, I officially loathe this capitalist bitch.

Come the revolution...

Das stoopee

People in the business say the most funny horrible things bout her

she is yes a joke

I don't understand why everyone wants to give her sole blame for AWiT. She didn't write that dreadful script. I don't think anyone could have made a good movie off that script. Now she's being set up to fail again with a New Gods movie. She must not be popular with executives.

If you're familiar with the source material, you already know that New Gods is going to be a piece of shit. The most tedious and boring characters in comics history.

She's also been hired to make a documentary series about Prince. :( I believe it's for Netflix but I might be mistaken. She is talented but I have little faith that she can do a good job of the docu or that comic book film. They seem out of her depth.

R150 The explanation is simple.

She diesnt care about the quality nor the art. Just the money.

Her artistic success depends on the creativity of the people she hires. Her input is at best, mediocre. At worst, incompetent.

I my opinion any director worth their salt would have taken one look at the witches costumes and shit canned them instantly.

Her documentary 13th is very good. Perhaps she should stick to documentaries.

R154 Exactly. She's very good at hiring the right people. For example, she's worked with one particular cinematographer on most of her films who's known for his beautiful work.