Sundance: Netflix Grabs 'Passing' Starring Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga

Kelly Stafford, the wife of LA Rams' quarterback Matthew Stafford, has shared her frustrations as she struggles to write a letter to her husband ahead of the 56th Super Bowl.MORE: Super Bowl party essentials 2022: 17 must-have party supplies for your Super PartyMatthew helped his team, the LA Rams make it to the final of the 2021 NFL season and they will go up against the Cincinnati Bengals on 13 February at LA's So-Fi Stadium. But Kelly has now revealed that she is trying to write Matthew a letter that will "match this moment" but has come up blank.WATCH: Kelly Stafford shares 'struggle' with fans ahead of the 56th Super BowlTaking to social media, she posted a picture of her laptop set up in the backyard, writing that she was "taking a quick second to myself to write Matthew his SB letter" and that it "still feels weird to write that but damn does it also feel good".However she then posted a video an hour later, admitting that she is "trying to write this letter and nothing matches this moment".MORE: Super Bowl Halftime show star Mary J Blige rocks a risqué rhinestone mini-dressMORE: Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg to host the 2022 Puppy Bowl"I am struggling, I keep writing and deleting, writing and deleting, because nothing I can say can justify all that he has done," she shared, "and I'm struggling so maybe if you can all start thinking thoughts that I can write, then they'll somehow, through the universe, shoot over to me and I can get this letter done because I am stressing about it."Matthew was traded to the Rams in early 2021 and in his first season with the California team, he has led them to a 15-5 season.

Tom Brady has publicly shared how he wishes he were working this weekend - referencing his retirement after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were eliminated from the Super Bowl tournament.MORE: Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers wins NFL Honors' MVP for second year in a rowTom's wife Gisele Bundchen shared a gorgeous makeover shot on social media, revealing a glossy new haircut and her glowing natural beauty, and captioned the post: "Who is working this weekend? Let's do this!" WATCH: Tom Brady’s final touchdown of his NFL careerIn response, Tom wrote: "I wish I was!!" to which fans were quick to comment to share their love and how "football will NOT be the same without you".Tom confirmed his retirement after the Bucs' defeat from the Los Angeles Rams who will face the Cincinnati Bengals at the 56th Super Bowl on 13 February.MORE: Eminem, Dr Dre, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar to headline Super Bowl halftime performanceMORE: Super Bowl party essentials 2022: 17 must-have party supplies for your Super PartyHe had an incredible 22-year career that saw him win seven Super Bowls with two teams, the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers."This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore," he said in a statement.

Andy Cohen just met Anderson Cooper’s newborn son Sebastian Maisani-Cooper.

It seems looking the part of the knight in shining armor can help, especially when you’re Justin Bieber, 27 and a shooting breaks out at your after-party. In photos of Justin and wife Hailey Baldwin‘s arrival to the soiree at Los Angeles restaurant The Nice Guy, Justin looked protective and caring of his model wife, 25. He held her hand as they exited a limo, and placed a reassuring arm around her back as they walked as a unit into the event, unaware of the chaos yet to come that would ultimately leave three people injured.

Rihanna had never been shy when it comes to her showing off her sexy style, and the fashion icon proves it even while pregnant! Since announcing she was expecting her first child with A$AP Rocky, the “Umbrella” singer has been flaunting her growing baby belly in the most fabulous ensembles while out in public. As fan can’t get enough of the pop diva’s pregnant pageantry. a source EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife why Rihanna isn’t planning on covering up anytime soon!

If you were hoping to see Kid Cudi on Kanye West’s new album, you may be in for disappointment…

The Duke of Hastings himself will be live from New York next Saturday night.

It’s about time we start recognizing how great Ruth Negga is. The star of “Loving” and the recent Sundance film “Passing” has been doing consistently good work since she starred in the cult TV series “Misfits,” but she hasn’t really had a star vehicle until now.

Ruth Negga has signed on to star in the upcoming limited series Josephine, which will follow the life of the legendary entertainer Josephine Baker.

EXCLUSIVE: The remarkable story of Josephine Baker, one of the most influential female entertainers of the 20th century, will be the subject of Josephine, a limited drama series in development at ABC Signature, with Ruth Negga attached to star as the legendary Jazz age performer and civil rights activist. Negga also executive produces the project, which hails from David Makes Man showrunner Dee Harris-Lawrence, director Millicent Shelton (Black-ish), LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The Springhill Company and ABC Signature. Josephine stems from The Springhill Company’s overall deal with ABC Signature.

EXCLUSIVE: WME has signed writer-director Tina Mabry, who is best known for helming the 2009 critically acclaimed film Mississippi Damned starring Tessa Thompson.

EXCLUSIVE: WME has signed writer-director Tiny Mabry, who is best known for helming the 2009 critically acclaimed film Mississippi Damned starring Tessa Thompson.

Black History Month HOLA! USA will be spotlighting some amazing Afro-Latina’s. First is  Tessa Thompson  who was born in the city of stars, on October 3, 1983, and was raised between Los Angeles and Brooklyn.

As she explained to us in an interview of the Deep Focus podcast, Rebecca Hall has been working a long time bringing her directorial debut, “Passing,” to life. Even though the debut was delayed due to the pandemic, the period drama finally premiered as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Tessa Thompson is loving her time on a horse!

Big news for Rebecca Hall!

Irene (Tessa Thompson) rarely passes for white. She fears for her safety too much to do so.

Angelique Jackson Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut already made a big splash with its Sundance Film Festival premiere — and its set to make even bigger noise as Netflix is nearing a $16 million deal for worldwide distribution rights on the film, an individual with knowledge of the deal tells Variety.Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga star in the project — written and directed by Hall and based on the 1929 novella by Nella Larsen –about racial passing in 1920s New York.More to come…

Also Read: Female Directors Rule Sundance 2021 - Is Equality Finally Here?TheWrap’s Carlos Aguilar called the film in his review “impressively refined and superbly acted” and compared Hall to another actor turned director, Regina King, writing that “Hall arrives behind the camera fully formed as a storyteller handling thought-provoking subject matter with formidable aesthetic sensibilities.”More to come… 

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is nearing a deal to acquire worldwide rights to Passing, the Rebecca Hall-directed and scripted drama that stars Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, Andre Holland, and Alexander Skarsgard. Sources said the deal will land just north of $15 million.

“Chadwick Bosman was an amazing artist. We’ve all been thrilled, and excited, and overwhelmed by the depth of his work,” said Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom director George C. Wolfe who presented the late actor Chadwick Bosman with Performance of the Year Award at Critics’ Choice Association’s virtual annual celebration Of Black cinema. “He was so present, not just as an actor but he was present as a human being.”

This week on the New Hollywood Podcast, we have not one, not two but 16 guests in four separate segments. The Sundance Film Festival was virtual this year as was Deadline’s Sundance Studio. For this special episode, we share our studio interviews in podcast form.

is, in a way, and it scared me, truly — the idea of playing her really terrified me. So I thought, that’s probably a good thing to do then.”“Passing” follows two women — Irene and Claire, played by Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga.

Passing to the big screen, Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut is a visceral drama centering on race relations, colorism, jealously, anguish, and desire. Set in Harlem amid the renaissance of the 1920’s, Passing follows Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Rutha Negga), childhood friends who meet again by happenstance one blazing hot summer day in the posh tearoom of New York City’s Drayton Hotel. It should have been a warm reunion, filled with talks of girlhood and current undertakings.

Exquisite performances from Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga provide the pulsing, emotionally heightened center to Passing, Rebecca Hall's assured move behind the camera, adapted with great sensitivity from the 1929 novel by Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen. "We're all of us passing for something or other, aren't we?" muses Thompson's melancholy character Irene Redfield.

Jessica Kiang It starts in sweltering heat; it ends in freezing weather. And in between, as the temperature gradually drops, Rebecca Hall’s “Passing,” based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel, calmly brings the diffuse racial landscape of prohibition-era New York City into crystalline, gorgeously shot focus.

Irene (Tessa Thompson) rarely passes for white. She fears for her safety too much to do so.

The presumed dead-and-buried practice of racial passing by light-skinned blacks in the United States decades ago is returned to center-stage in Passing, a delicate, sensitive, intentionally claustrophobic and not entirely limber directorial debut from the protean British stage performer Rebecca Hall. Based on the recently resurrected 1929 novel by Nella Larsen, which was a modest success in its time, the film is indisputably intriguing for its look at a very particular convention about which younger generations know very little.

See Photos: 14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing'As conflicted Irene, Thompson delivers her finest work to date, reminiscent of her turn in the recent period piece “Sylvie’s Love” but with greater substance. (This is Thompson’s second Sundance in a row to shine in a film set decades in the past.) Her character, a woman descending into blinding suspiciousness, demands studied calibration; Irene must always uphold an image of serenity even when she’s breaking down on the inside.

What kind of market will a pandemic-slimmed virtual 2021 Sundance Film Festival bring?

Tessa Thompson is enjoying a day out in Sydney!

Rebecca Hall discusses making the move from acting to directing, her new racial-identity movie “Passing”, and more in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be mostly virtual this year, including the festival’s annual awards ceremony.

You know Rebecca Hall from her celebrated acting career, Christopher Nolan’s “The Prestige,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Frost/Nixon,” Nicole Holofcener’s “Please Give,” Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” Joel Edgerton’s “The Gift,” Antonio Campos’ striking indie “Christine,” Amazon’s “Tales From The Loop” and many more.

Also Read: 14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing' (Photos)After all, the statistics are formidable: Over the last five years, Sundance has produced three of the five Oscars documentary winners, 13 of the 25 nominees and 42 of the 75 shortlisted films.

Also Read: 14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing' (Photos)“Prisoners of the Ghostland” is presented by Patriot Pictures and was fully financed by Michael Mendelsohn’s Union Patriot Capital Management. XYZ Films produced, and is handling worldwide sales, with plans to introduce the film to buyers after Sundance.“We’re excited to once again work with Nicolas Cage on a highly anticipated film directed by the celebrated Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono,” Mark Ward, chief acquisitions officer of RLJE Films, said in a statement.