Page 29 - Florida Sentinel 4-30-21

Tyler Perry Wins Humanitarian Award At The 2021 Oscars As He Implores Others To 'Refuse Hate'
‘Ma Rainey’s’ Hair And Makeup Team Make History With Oscar Win
Tyler Perry was co-hon- ored with a special award at the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday night.
The Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the governing body of the Acad- emy Awards, awarded Perry, 51, and the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Taking the Oscars stage to accept the award after an in- troduction from Viola Davis, Perry was greeted with a standing ovation from his peers.
"You know, when I set out to help someone, it is my inten- tion to do just that. I'm not try- ing to do anything other than meet somebody at their hu- manity," Perry, who wore a custom Giorgio Armani tuxedo, began his acceptance speech.
"And in this time, with all of the internet and social media and algorithms and everything that wants us to think a certain way, the 24-hour news cycle, it is my hope that all of us would
Viola Davis as Ma Rainey in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
The hair and makeup team behind “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” — Sergio Lopez- Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson — made his- tory when they were nomi- nated for the Oscar, with Neal and Wilson being the first Black people recognized in the category. Now they have made history again as that category’s winners.
The team transformed Viola Davis into 1920s blues singer Ma Rainey, who, in the Net-
Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson with Don Cheadle.
TYLER PERRY
teach our kids, and I want to remember just refuse hate, don't hate anybody," he added. "Don't hate anybody."
"I refuse to hate someone be- cause they are Mexican or be- cause they are Black or white or LGBTQ. I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer. I refuse to hate someone because they are Asian," Perry said. "I would hope that we would refuse hate."
flix adaptation of August Wilson’s celebrated play, is seen during the course of one day spent largely in a swelter- ing Chicago recording studio. There are precious few photo- graphs of the real-life Ma Rainey, so the team had to ex- trapolate much of its work from additional research.
Creating a period-accurate horsehair wig and a makeup look that would run and smear just so as the story progressed, the team devised a look that
was part glamour and part grit, moving from precisely pulled- together to deliriously di- sheveled
Neal created the wigs; Wil- son, Davis’ longtime hairstyl- ist, put them on the actress. As makeup artist Lopez-Rivera, who also has a long-running collaboration with Davis, said of the character’s makeup and overall look, including her sweat, in an interview with The Times, “It was applied pre- cisely to look messy.”
‘Soul’ Wins Best Score Oscar, Making Jon Batiste The Second Black Composer To Receive Award
TRENT REZNOR, JON BATISTE AND ATTICUS ROSS
‘Two Distant Strangers’ Oscar Winner Travon Free
The trio of composers be- hind Disney-Pixar’s “Soul” won the Oscar for best origi- nal score Sunday night. It was the first Academy Award for jazz artist Jon Batiste and the second for Nine Inch Nail rock writers-turned-film composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Batiste becomes only the second Black composer to clinch the original score award in the 86-year history of the category. (Herbie Hancock was the first, for 1986’s “Round Midnight,” an- other film sporting a jazz
backdrop.)
“God gave us 12 notes,”
Batiste said at the podium. “It’s the same 12 notes Duke Ellington had, Bach had, Nina Simone.... Every gift is special. Every contribution with music that comes from the divine, into the instru- ments, into the film, into the minds and hearts and souls of every person who hears it. The stories that happen when you listen to it, the stories you share, the moments you cre- ate, the memories you make, man, it’s just so incredibly special.”
Hot off of winning the Best Live Action Short Film Oscar for Two Distant Strangers, Travon Free has inked a first look producing deal with En- deavor Content.
Free wrote Two Distant Strangers and co-directed with Martin Desmond Roe. The Netflix short which stars Joey Bada$$, Andrew Howard and Zaria follows a man who is trying to get home to his dog, but gets stuck in a time loop that forces him to re- live a deadly run-in with a cop.
Said Free, “Over the last year I’ve developed some great creative relationships with some wonderful people at En- deavor Content, who I’ve
Travon Free pays tribute to Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and more at 2021 Oscars.
found to be as committed as I am to making art that is not only entertaining but chal- lenges our society, our culture
and the world we live in. I’m really excited about the road ahead and the chance to create with their impressive team.”
The Oscars
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