Miss Virginia | |
---|---|
Directed by | R.J. Daniel Hanna |
Written by | Erin O'Connor |
Produced by | Maurice Black M. Elizabeth Hughes Erin O'Connor Stacey Parks Rob Pfaltzgraff |
Starring | Uzo Aduba Matthew Modine Niles Fitch Amirah Vann Adina Porter Aunjanue Ellis Vanessa Williams |
Cinematography | Nancy Schreiber |
Edited by | Brian Scofield |
Music by | Laura Karpman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Vertical Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Miss Virginia is an 2019 American drama film directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna and starring Uzo Aduba in a title role as a struggling inner-city mother who sacrifices everything to give her son a good education. Supporting cast include Matthew Modine, Niles Fitch, Amirah Vann, Adina Porter, Aunjanue Ellis, and Vanessa Williams. The film is based on a true story. [1]
The film was released on October 18, 2019 by Vertical Entertainment. [2] Miss Virginia received mixed reviews from critics, earning praise for Aduba's performance but criticism for muddling the politics of school vouchers.
Production began in November 2017, when Uzo Aduba was cast in a leading role. [3] [4] In April 2018, Matthew Modine, Aunjanue Ellis, Vanessa Williams and Kimberly Hébert Gregory joined the cast and filming began later that month in Los Angeles. [5] [6] [7]
Miss Virginia was the first narrative production of the Moving Picture Institute, [8] and one of several MPI films that push for school choice programs. [9] MPI has received support from school choice supporter and Republican political donor Rebekah Mercer, who was also previously on its board. [10]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 50% based on 14 reviews. [11]
Matthew Avery Modine is an American actor. He rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987). Other films include Birdy (1984), Vision Quest (1985), Married to the Mob (1988), Gross Anatomy (1989), Pacific Heights (1990), Short Cuts (1993), Cutthroat Island (1995), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and Oppenheimer (2023). On television, he portrayed Dr. Don Francis in the HBO film And the Band Played On (1993), the oversexed Sullivan Groff on Weeds (2007), Ivan Turing in Proof (2015), and Dr. Martin Brenner in Netflix's Stranger Things (2016–2022).
Vanessa Estelle Williams, sometimes professionally credited as Vanessa A. Williams, is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her roles as Maxine Joseph–Chadway in the Showtime drama series, Soul Food (2000–04), for which she received NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series and as Nino Brown's feisty gun moll, Keisha in the 1991 crime drama film, New Jack City. Williams is also known for her role as Anne-Marie McCoy in the first and fourth of the Candyman films, and as Rhonda Blair in the first season of the Fox prime time soap opera, Melrose Place (1992–93).
Kimberly Payne Williams-Paisley is an American actress known for her co-starring roles on According to Jim and Nashville, as well as her breakthrough performance in Father of the Bride (1991), for which she was nominated for several awards, and its sequel, Father of the Bride Part II (1995). Throughout her acting career, she has guest-starred on TV shows including Tales from the Crypt, George Lopez and Less Than Perfect. She is also known for her roles in made-for-TV movies, including Safe House, The Christmas Shoes, and Lucky 7, and also her role as Laura Parker in Shade, a short film that she also wrote and directed. Williams is married to country musician Brad Paisley, with whom she has two sons; actress Ashley Williams is her sister.
Aunjanue L. Ellis-Taylor is an American actress. Known for her work in several film and television productions, she has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Michael Wilson is an American stage and screen director working extensively on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at the nation's leading resident theaters.
The Moving Picture Institute (MPI) is an American non-profit organization and film production company founded in 2005 by Thor Halvorssen, who was also one of the producers for some of their movies. Its current president is Rob Pfaltzgraff.
Uzoamaka Nwanneka "Uzo" Aduba is an American actress. She gained wide recognition for her role as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019), for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2015, and two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014 and 2015. She is one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award in both the comedy and drama categories for the same role.
Kimberly Hébert Gregory is an American actress. She began her career in theatre before her breakthrough role as Dr. Belinda Brown in the HBO comedy series Vice Principals in 2016.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip is a 2015 American jukebox musical comedy film directed by Walt Becker and written by Randi Mayem Singer and Adam Sztykiel, based on the characters Alvin and the Chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and the Chipettes created by Janice Karman. It is the fourth and final installment in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series and the sequel to the 2011 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. The film stars Jason Lee, Tony Hale, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Josh Green. Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney all reprise their roles as the Chipmunks, while Kaley Cuoco, Anna Faris and Christina Applegate play the Chipettes. Cuoco replaced Amy Poehler as the voice of Eleanor in the film. The plot centers on the Chipmunks as they head to Miami after believing that Dave will propose to his girlfriend Samantha, who has a son who bullies the Chipmunks. Along the way they end up in unfortunate circumstances, such as being put on the No Fly List.
American Pastoral is a 2016 American crime-drama film directed by Ewan McGregor and with a screenplay by John Romano, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Philip Roth. The film stars McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, Peter Riegert, Rupert Evans, Uzo Aduba, Molly Parker and David Strathairn. Principal photography began on September 21, 2015, in Pittsburgh.
Ruby Wylder Rivera Modine is an American actress, dancer and singer. She is best known for playing Sierra Morton in Shameless, and co-starring in the 2017 slasher film Happy Death Day and its sequel as Lori Spengler. She is the lead singer of the band Ruby Modine and the Disease.
Amirah Charline Vann is an American actress and singer. She began her career on the Off-Broadway stage before starring in the WGN America period drama series, Underground (2016—2017), for which she received NAACP Image Award nomination. She later starred as attorney Tegan Price in the ABC legal thriller series, How to Get Away with Murder (2017—2020). In 2022, Vann starred in the period romantic drama film, A Jazzman's Blues.
Beats is a 2019 American coming-of-age-drama film directed by Chris Robinson, from a screenplay by Miles Orion Feldsott. The film stars Anthony Anderson, Khalil Everage, Uzo Aduba, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Paul Walter Hauser, Dave East, Ashley Jackson, Evan J. Simpson, and Dreezy, and follows a reclusive, teenage music prodigy forms an unlikely friendship with a struggling producer. United by their mutual love of hip-hop, they try to free each other from the demons of their past and break into the city's music scene. It was released onto Netflix on June 19, 2019, and received generally positive reviews from critics.
Mrs. America is an American political drama television miniseries produced by FX and originally aired on the sister streaming service FX on Hulu. Created and co-written by Davhi Waller and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Amma Asante, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, and Janicza Bravo, the series details the unsuccessful political movement to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and the unexpected backlash led by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly in the 1970s. It features a large ensemble cast led by Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Elizabeth Banks, Margo Martindale, John Slattery, Tracey Ullman, and Sarah Paulson.
Breaking News in Yuba County is a 2021 American black comedy film directed and co-produced by Tate Taylor, from a screenplay written by Amanda Idoko. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, Awkwafina, Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes, Juliette Lewis, Samira Wiley, Jimmi Simpson, Clifton Collins Jr., Bridget Everett, Dominic Burgess, Keong Sim, Chris Lowell, Matthew Modine and Ellen Barkin.
Niles Fitch is an American actor who began his career as a child actor. He gained prominence through his role in the NBC series This Is Us (2016–2022). He received praise for his performance in the film The Fallout (2021).
Foster Boy is a 2019 American drama film directed by Youssef Delara and starring Shane Paul McGhie, Matthew Modine and Louis Gossett Jr. Shaquille O'Neal served as an executive producer of the film.
Painkiller is an American drama television miniseries created by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. Based on Patrick Radden Keefe's New Yorker article "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain" and Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic by Barry Meier, the series focuses on the birth of the opioid crisis, with an emphasis on Purdue Pharma, the company owned by Richard Sackler and his family that was the manufacturer of OxyContin. The Sackler family has been described as the "most evil family in America", and "the worst drug dealers in history".
The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat is an upcoming American drama film directed by Tina Mabry and written by Mabry and Cee Marcellus. Based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Edward Kelsey Moore, it stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sanaa Lathan, Uzo Aduba, Mekhi Phifer, Julian McMahon, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Russell Hornsby.