WENN

Well, when you’ve filmed three movies back to back to back, it’s no wonder Leonardo DiCaprio is about to take some time off.

Now, before you start screaming at your computer screen with the “Why is this news” question, let me just put it on the table: in the month that Django Unchained has been in theaters, I’ve noticed that black women – many being part of our Madame readership – have been very vocal about their love for Leo. Seriously, he’s apparently one of the actors we (collectively so it’s okay if this doesn’t apply to your directly) love – for his looks and his talent – so that’s the long and short of why we’re sharing.

Cool? Cool, let’s carry on!

According to Celebuzz, the critically acclaimed actor told Germany’s Daily Bild that he is desperate need of a break saying, ““I am a bit drained. I’m now going to take a long, long break. I’ve done three films in two years and I’m just worn out.” We can see why: after wrapping up Django Unchained, he went on to film The Great Gatsby  and The Wolf of Wall Street.

DiCaprio says he hasn’t really seen his home or any of his friends in that time.

So what’s he going to do with this time off? Well, apparently he’s a semi-environmentalist:

“I would like to improve the world a bit. I will fly around the world doing good for the environment. My roof is covered with solar panels. My car is electric. A normal person does not drive more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) a day. That can be done with a plug.”

Well, who knew Leo was all about going green! Of course, flying around the world probably doesn’t help the environment but we certainly get his point.

It’s always good to be able to work hard and be rewarded for it by taking some time off.  But we’ve got to wonder if part of the break comes from the fact that neither the Academy members, who are responsible for choosing Oscar winners, nor the Screen Actors Guild, responsible for choosing SAG winners, have ever rewarded DiCaprio for his immense talent. He’s also only won one Golden Globe award for his role in The Aviator.

It looks like 2013 may be the last time we see DiCaprio on the big screen for some time. It’s cool, Leo, take your break.

In case you missed the memo, Trinidad Jame$ is the breakout rapper of 2012. The fact that people all over the globe are singing about gold all in their watches is a bit of a feat considering Jame$ had only been rapping for ten months when he released his single, “All Gold Everything.” Though I can’t quite put my finger on it, there is something quite catchy about this little ditty. Erykah Badu seems to think the quick succession of the n-word said in three peat is what makes the song go…she called it beautiful and says that she listens to it in the mornings to get her day started off right.

So maybe it should come as no surprise that another pair of black celebs are also feeling Trinidad’s “All Gold Everything.” Check out Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington performing their version of this hit.

What do you think about the song? Are you surprised people like it so much?

In a photo that’s much better than that “odd” Vibe cover, Kerry Washington, graces the cover of Uptown Magazine, looking her normal flawless self. These days, promoting an expected box office smash and starring in a hit television show, Kerry is one busy lady. But she made time to stop by Uptown and talk about everything from her childhood (pre and post private school), the risks she’s taken in her acting career, and the controversy surrounding Django Unchained.

On growing up in the Washington household and her multi-culti family:

She still remembers the lively, sometimes heated, discussions on race and society around the dinner table. “My family’s very multiethnic,” she says. “When we get together for the holidays, it is the U.N., across the board.”

On the culture shock when she enrolled in an upper east side private school:

Prior to Spence, Washington thought her working-middle-class family was balling. “We had a microwave and two cars. We had a dishwasher before anyone in the building,” she says. “And then you go to this other world, and it’s, ‘Oh, we’re taking a helicopter to your house in the Hamptons?’ For a lot of classmates, I knew the only other black women they’d known were their domestic help.”

On what drew her to Django and the controversy around the movie:

“I’ve never seen slavery dealt with this way before in film. So often it’s a white character who’s the savior of black people.”

“We should have a plethora of visions and interpretations of who we are as a nation.” But she admits, “This is not necessarily the film I would make about slavery.”

On leaving the entertainment business:

“Sometimes I feel like I can’t do this anymore.” Almost once a year, her hair and makeup folks hear it: “I am done! I’m so done.”

On why she’s no saint:

“If you look at my body of work, I’ve always taken huge risks. I’ve played prostitutes, drug addicts, pimping lesbians. I do work I’m drawn to.”

You can read the rest of Kerry’s interview and check out the images and videos from the shoot at Uptown.com.

Daniel Deme/WENN.com

Jamie Foxx in a tight suit playing a supervillain? I’ll take a serving of that.

According to Variety, actor Jamie Foxx is in talks to play Electro, a supervillain, in the sequel to The Amazing Superman.  The film is set to hit theaters in 2014 but Sony Pictures apparently didn’t expect to be so far in the casting process this soon; Emma Stone and and Andrew Garfield are already returning and Shailene Woodley is in talks to be cast in a role.

While the film studio would not saying anything about Foxx being signed on or even in talks to do it, you know Twitter makes people feel a little more free-flowing of the words. Jamie tweeted last Thursday, “Dressed up as Electro for Halloween last night. Costume fits.” So either he’s letting the world know he definitely has the role or an overzealous person excited to give a story toVariety saw him out on the street and ran with it.  I guess we’ll have to see.

Jamie is quite the busy man: he’s currently gearing up to promote his upcoming film Django Unchained, co-starring Kerry Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio, which will be released on Christmas Day.

by Danielle Hobbs

Once again the Great White Hope comes in to save the day in another film chronicling a piece of black history. The buzz surrounding the release of the highly anticipated trailer for Django Unchained, is causing division in the black community. Big surprise? The grandfather of ‘revenge’ stories, Quentin Tarantino, is displaying slavery in a way that it has never been told on the big screen –a single slave’s quest to avenge himself. Of course, he cannot do it without the help of a white character who promises Django his freedom after he completes his slave master’s scripted hit list. Herein lays the controversy of the Hollywood heralded “Great White Hope” caricature vs actual history. Denmark Vesey, a real-life Carribean-Afrikkan slave did not consult a white abolitionist or Negro-friendly slave master before planning the biggest revolt in American history. He single-handedly shook up the plantations of the south. Yet, his story will never be splashed across the big screen without being brutally exaggerated by producers. The Django trailer did little to show any creative thinking on the part of a slave whose life had been stolen from him, instead it displayed his ability to be the brawn behind his white master’s brain. The Step-it-and-fetch-it act was almost disgraceful; still I imagine the theatres will be filled with people who have been craving a revenge story since the Kill Bill Trilogy.

In an article at Clutch Magazine the writer captures the crux of what she calls the “White Savior Sydrome”:

“Worthy causes only become noteworthy once white folks step in to champion it, never mind the black and brown people who have worked in the trenches to bring many of our world’s social ills to light. Somehow, people only sit up and take notice once a predominately white org or white celeb take up the case. Why is that?”

It seems Hollywood is allergic to telling a “black story” without a white actor playing a pivotal lead role. Adding insult to injury, The Django trailer’s ending frame reads: “Django is off the chain.” Someone literally deserves to be punched for this poor attempt to slap at “ebonic” humor. There is nothing remotely funny about the African American genocide in America called slavery.

Yet one should not be surprised at Hollywood’s attempt to soften the less than pleasurable reality of the black experience in America. Let’s explore the pattern shall we:

1. “Glory” a 1989 film about an all black battalion during the Civil War (side bar: Denzel deserved an Oscar with his gorgeous self playing the hot-tempered slave) yet Col. Robert Shaw  (Matthew  Brodderick) leads the way as the white Moses into battle.

2. Then in 1995 we were given Michelle Pfeiffer’s rousing heroine performance as “Louann Johnson” in Dangerous Minds where she single-handedly changes a classroom of gang-bangers and hoodlums into poetic politicians.

3. Dangerous Minds is followed by a knock off in 2007 with Hillary Swank’s dismal performance in Freedom Fighters.

4. In the 2009 film, The Blind Side, We are graced with Sandra Bullocks’ stereotypical; albeit touching role as the adoptive mother of an illiterate black football star.

5. Most recently in 2011, audiences battled over the true-to-life and controversial money-maker, The Help. The film chronicled the life the author’s real-life maid and her civil disobedience to a white family in a racially-inflamed community.

It is centuries after slavery; however, Hollywood still finds a way to incorporate a White Savior archetype into the retelling of African American history. It’s time we return to our roots and tell the unabridged version.

Sound off Noirettes: Do you agree with this author’s sentiment?

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