NAACP TEAMS UP WITH JULIANNE MOORE, KRISTEN BELL, MORE: The NAACP has teamed up with Tommy Oliver and Adam Platzner of Confluential Content for #ITakeResponsibility, a new campaign launched to encourage white people to call out racism. Julianne Moore, Kristen Bell, Sarah Paulson, Aaron Paul, Aly Raisman, Bethany Joy Lenz, Bryce Dallas Howard, Debra Messing, Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, Kesha, Mark Duplass, Piper Perabo and Stanley Tucci are among the celebs who’ve agreed to participate. “It’s critical that we understand and accept that racism is a white people problem…a problem that, collectively, we need to look to ourselves to fix,” Platzner, Partner and Vice Chairman, Confluential Content tells Deadline. “I had never seen it quite that way before. Recent events in this country have shown us that we need to take a different approach if we’re to be impactful. That’s what led me to create this effort.”
AVA DUVERNAY ELECTED TO FILM ACADEMY BOARD: Ava DuVernay has been elected to represent directors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on its board of governors, in an election that brought a record number of women and people of color, 26 and 12 respectively, to the 54-person board. DuVernay’s 2014 Selma got passed over in nominations, which fueled the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. 153 Academy members across the organization’s 17 branches were up for election this time around.
THIS IS US WRITER DIES: Jas Waters, a writer for the hit NBC family drama This Is Us, has died at age 39. Waters also worked on Jim Carrey's Kidding, Hood Adjacent with James Davis, and the film What Men Want. The official writers account for the show shared their grief on Twitter: “The entire #ThisIsUs family was devastated to learn of Jas Waters passing. In our time together, Jas left her mark on us and ALL over the show. She was a brilliant storyteller and a force of nature. We send our deepest sympathies to her loved ones. She was one of us. RIP @JasFly.”
THOMASIN MCKENZIE TO STAR IN JOIKA: Jojo Rabbit star Thomasin McKenzie is set to play the American Ballet Dancer Joy Womack in Joika. The biopic will follow the story of the second American to graduate from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy, following her training and her first love. Womack now dances with the Boston Ballet.
