It's a long way from Bon Temps, La, to Rwanda, ma chère, but that isn't stopping "True Blood" star Rutina Wesley.
Wesley, who stars in "True Blood" as Sookie's tough-as-nails best friend Tara Thornton, has landed the starring role in "Left to Tell," based on Immaculée Ilibagiza's memoir.
Wesley has starred in two films, the MTV/Paramount dance-off film "How She Move" and the indie "California Winter." This is sure to be a meaty part for the young actress; combined with the attention that the new season of "True Blood" will bring (starting on June 26, not that we're keeping track or anything), this could be a breakthrough move for Wesley.
Ilibagiza survived 91 days hiding in a bathroom with seven other women during 1994's Rwandan genocide.She returned home nearly starved to death, only to find that many of her family members and friends had been killed during the brutal massacres that swept the African republic.
Wesley, who stars in "True Blood" as Sookie's tough-as-nails best friend Tara Thornton, has landed the starring role in "Left to Tell," based on Immaculée Ilibagiza's memoir.
Wesley has starred in two films, the MTV/Paramount dance-off film "How She Move" and the indie "California Winter." This is sure to be a meaty part for the young actress; combined with the attention that the new season of "True Blood" will bring (starting on June 26, not that we're keeping track or anything), this could be a breakthrough move for Wesley.
Ilibagiza survived 91 days hiding in a bathroom with seven other women during 1994's Rwandan genocide.She returned home nearly starved to death, only to find that many of her family members and friends had been killed during the brutal massacres that swept the African republic.
- 6/10/2011
- by Jenni Miller
- NextMovie
Exclusive: Just as a new season of True Blood returns to HBO, Rutina Wesley has been set to star in Left To Tell, a biopic about Immaculee Ilibagiza that's based on her betselling memoir. The project is set up at mPower. Ilibagiza's life was dramatically transformed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide campaign where she and seven other women spent 91 days, huddled silently together in a cramped bathroom of a local pastor's home. Entering the bathroom a vibrant, 115-pound university student with a loving family, she came out of that room weighing 65 pounds, and soon learned that most of her family had been brutally murdered. The film's being produced by Stephen McEveety and will be co-directed by Steve Berkowitz & Keith VanderLaan. Wesley most recently starred in How She Move, which was acquired during Sundance, and the indie California Winter. She's repped by Inspire Entertainment.
- 6/9/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
PARK CITY -- One Oscar gamble paid off, the other didn't. Mel Gibson's populist smash The Passion of the Christ earned a respectable three Academy Award nominations -- a best cinematography nom for Caleb Deschanel, a best makeup nom for Keith Vanderlaan and Christien Tinsley and a best score nomination for John Debney. But Michael Moore's inflammatory documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 got nothing. Ironically, the final accounting ran counter to popular assumptions of how the films would be treated by Hollywood, which is widely assumed to be liberal. For the Academy offered Gibson qualified applause, while ignoring Moore altogether. Both independent films have courted controversy throughout their theatrical lives, racking up impressive boxoffice gains in the process.
- 1/25/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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