Cyntia Erivo is not a fan of the fan-made art inspired by her upcoming musical “Wicked.”

After photos emerged of a fan-modified version of the official movie poster, edited to cover Erivo’s face, very like the duvet of the unique Broadway Playbill, Erivo had strong words for its creators.

“This is the wildest and most offensive thing I have ever seen, comparable to the horrible AI of our fight, equal to people asking the question, ‘Is your ***** green,’” she wrote within the caption of a post sent to her. Instagram Stories on Wednesday, October 16, People Magazine reported. “None of this is funny. None of this is sweet. This humiliates me. It humiliates us.”

She added: “The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real person who decided to look straight into the barrel of the camera, at you, the viewer… because without words we communicate through our eyes.”

Although the edited version was edited to appear like the unique Playbill, the actress explained, “Our poster is an homage, not an imitation.”

She continued: “Editing my face and hiding my eyes is erasing me. And it’s just deeply painful.”

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Reactions to Erivo’s response were mixed online, with some siding along with her and agreeing that the changes were disrespectful at best and a potentially racist removal at worst. There are also those that imagine it could have been an unintentional slight, considering how long “Wicked” has enjoyed a large and deep-rooted cult following. It’s possible that the creator just wanted a movie poster for his Playbill and didn’t try to incorporate any deeper commentary.

Regardless, Erivo notes that a movie poster shouldn’t be intended to serve the identical purpose as a playbill. Posters and playbills for Broadway shows are sometimes illustrations and sometimes even the show’s logo since the solid is continuously changing. The complete solid of a movie won’t ever change, so there is no point in obscuring the faces of anybody solid member – especially in the event that they’re each established stars.

Erivo also has nothing fallacious with being defensive, given the frequent backlash from black women in high-profile adaptations. Earlier this 12 months, actress Francesca Amewudah-Rivers faced backlash online after announcing she had been solid within the Jamie Lloyd Company’s Romeo and Juliet opposite Tom Holland. And let’s not forget Halle Bailey’s harsh response after it was announced that she had been solid within the live-action remake of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

Finally, Erivo retweeted the film’s director, Jon M. Chu, a repost of the actual movie poster with the caption, “Let me put this here to remind you and cleanse your palette.”

Erivo stars alongside Ariana Grande within the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Broadway musical, originally based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel of the identical name. “Wicked” in cinemas from November 22.

“Wounded Healer” is a brand new film concerning the lifetime of Mandy, a 30-year-old black therapist from Atlanta who struggles with her own mental problems while raising teenage children. As she battles a relapse of a childhood autoimmune disease, Manda joins “The Wounded Healers Group,” a support network for counselors. The journey takes her back to her hometown in North Carolina, where she confronts her past and learns the importance of prioritizing her own healing.

Directed by Aleshia Cowser Jackson and written by Shamanda Burston, the film stars Katelynn Bennett (“Zoey 102,” “Breaking Girl Code”), Rashan Ali Smith (“All the Queen’s Men”), Christal Jordan (“Iyanla Vanzant: Fix My Life” “), Moses Jones and Michael Mau. Together they form a robust ensemble that vividly portrays the intersection of family life and mental health.

According to Yahoo EntertainmentBurston, who can also be an executive producer on the project, stated that the film is deeply personal and based partially on her own experiences as a licensed therapist. “This is my first kinetherapy film,” Burston explained. She added that “Wounded Healer” was inspired by psychologist Carl Jung’s theory that “the best healers heal their own wounds.” Burston hopes the film will encourage viewers to “start meaningful conversations and take the journey to healing together — because it’s not only possible; This is the path we all walk together.”

“People often assume that therapists and mental health professionals are invincible when it comes to emotional and mental challenges, but we are human too,” Burston told Yahoo Entertainment.

According to the most recent data from the American Psychiatric Association (APA), only two percent of the estimated 41,000 psychiatrists within the US are black.

Freestyle Digital Media, the digital distribution arm of Allen Media Group, is owned by media mogul Byron Allen. Freestyle Digital Media will release the film on October 22 on all major digital platforms in North America, followed by a DVD release.

Freestyle Digital Media’s acquisition of “Wounded Healer” underscores its mission to amplify diverse and underrepresented voices in film, a core philosophy of Byron Allen’s media empire. Independent sales representative and distribution consultant Liz Manashil negotiated the film deal.

With mental health now an integral a part of mainstream conversations, Wounded Healer is especially timely, offering a rare look into the pressures and internal battles faced by those working within the care field. The film highlights the importance of self-care for healers, especially Black women, who are sometimes expected to be resilient and powerful while ignoring their very own needs.

Watch the official trailer for “Wounded Healer” below.

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TORONTO (AP) – When Pharrell Williams AND Morgan Neville decided to make a movie about Williams’ life, but animated from Lego bricks, they knew there can be a culture shock. But the creation of Piece by Piece still led to places that neither Williams, Neville or Lego could have predicted.

“We had a long discussion about the width of the back of the bikini bottom on the minifigure in the ‘Rump Shaker’ music video,” laughs Neville. “We had a lot of conversations about things I thought I would never talk about as a filmmaker.”

“Piece by Piece” didn’t include any easy assembly instructions. It’s part musical biopic, part documentary, part family film. It is, like many things in Williams’ life, stuffed with hits, radiating highs, beats and distinctiveness.

“Society likes to put us in boxes, pun intended,” Williams says, chatting with Neville. “It was a moment where this guy’s perspective on my life and the way he put it together was incredibly liberating for me. Even though I never saw myself in a box, now it helps other people too.”

“Piece by Piece,” which opens in Focus Features theaters on Friday, begins like many documentaries, with director Neville sitting with a camera crew focused on its foremost character, Williams. But on this case, Williams – and the whole lot else, including the bearded, bespectacled Neville – is Lego.

“What if we told my life in Lego?” – Williams asks within the film. “That will never happen,” Neville replies.

What follows is something of a conventional documentary, stuffed with colourful tales of past struggles and triumphs, from his childhood in Virginia Beach to a string of chart-topping hits, told through Williams’ voice and multiple talking heads. It was recorded this manner during interviews on camera, Zoom or phone, after which animated into Lego characters. Here’s finally a probability to see Busta Rhymes as Lego together with many others including Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliott.

“Our first meeting was with Lego, because if they said no, there would be no film,” says Neville, director of documentaries including “20 Feet from Fame.” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” AND “Steve!” To their credit, they not only agreed, but I feel they understood what development it might force them to make.”

For Lego, the Danish toy company, making “Piece by Piece” was its biggest challenge since entering feature-length movies with “The Lego Movie” from 2014 Neville approached the corporate’s director of world entertainment, Jill Wilfert, with the thought of ​​making a documentary that can be the primary to be made not about himself. Wilfert reacted immediately.

“The whole idea of ​​Lego is infinite creativity and limitless possibilities, and Pharrell really embodies that,” he says.

To prove the concept, Neville shot a 90-second video of Williams reflecting on his upbringing and his inspirations from artists like Stevie Wonder. (The “Songs in the Key of Life” vinyl record is one other one in all those belongings you never expected to see as Lego.)

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“I went away from saying, ‘This is definitely going to work,’” Neville says. “And everyone we showed it to understood. They said: I need to see this movie.

Still, Neville and Williams knew the Lego approach would mean working inside PG parameters. Some things about Williams’ life – comparable to being young and famous while performing in the highest circles of pop and hip-hop – would not fit right into a family film. Williams claims the film “paraphrases” his life.

“There were definitely some areas that didn’t meet my expectations of where we could go,” Wilfert says. “We had good dialogue throughout the entire process. Morgan and Pharrell, there was mutual respect because we are a brand that people have high expectations of and expect certain things from. So we worked with them on the areas that we thought made sense and the areas that didn’t make sense.”

It also pushed Lego in other ways. Williams is especially happy with the actual fact that Lego has expanded the range of skin tones and hair textures available because of the film. Williams’ Lego – which he carried proudly for the premiere of Piece by Piece on the Toronto International Film Festival – it was specially designed to match his skin tone.

“Name the type of person. We fought hard for its existence and recognition,” Williams says. “Lego has made a commitment and I think the brand is better for it.”

One of the film’s most inventive designs is illustrating songs that Williams created on his own or in collaboration, comparable to Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl,” Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” and Pharrell’s “Happy.” Each one is rendered as a novel, small, glowing set of Lego bricks put together.

The other, less completely happy facets of Williams’ life are out of the query. You won’t see anything “Blurred Lines” lawsuit by which Marvin Gaye’s estate sued for copyright infringement and won. There’s also nothing within the video about Williams’ recent legal spats with Neptunes co-founder Chad Hugo. Earlier this 12 months, Hugo filed a trademark opposition to the duo’s name, alleging that Williams had “fraudulently” tried to realize control of it. Williams’ representatives disagreed, saying Williams “contacted the company on numerous occasions to share ownership.”

However, “Piece By Piece” provides a positive portrait of Hugo, particularly from Williams’ early days in Virginia Beach when the 2 began making music together.

“There is nothing bittersweet. I am grateful for my experiences. “Chad is an integral part of the beginning, the genesis of my musical exploration and being there,” Williams says. “I met him in second grade in band class and the memories we have of making music together, I wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t for our meeting.”

Williams, who’s Men’s Creative Director at Louis Vuittonhas a talent for brand management. He released his debut solo album “In My Mind” in 2006 and way back got here into the highlight himself. However, as he himself admits, he remained a producer at heart. Not the whole lot in Piece by Piece was easy for him.

“A lot of this stuff felt vulnerable to me,” Williams says. “I cried twice during this story. I didn’t consider that he might ask questions that would trigger emotions. I’m such a manufactured person. I have produced so much of myself.”

It’s a sense that Neville can relate to, as a protean documentarian who’s accustomed to adapting to the style and attitude of his subjects.

“Pharrell, as a producer, often holds a mirror up to artists so they can see themselves. My job is to put a mirror in front of him so he can see himself,” Neville says. “I have a strange feeling that we have the same job.”

When Neville interviewed other musicians for the film, he told them they might be animated. But he didn’t say how. Only later did they learn that they might be Lego minifigures.

“Everyone was shocked and excited,” Williams says. “I feel prefer it brought out the inner child in each of them. Some of them take a look at life that way anyway. Others, even the tough ones, said, “Oh man, this is great.”

Capturing Williams’ life in a fun, even childlike way will definitely help some younger viewers connect with his story. Becoming a world-famous multi-hyphenate could seem unattainable to most, but “Piece by Piece” makes it seem almost like a lightning bolt.

“Lego highlights universality,” says Neville. “I have the impression that this whole film is an experiment in the tension between the specificity of real life and documentaries, and imagination and the universality of imagination.”