Leslie Odom Jr | Entertainment News, Photos, and Videos

Regina King is generating Oscar buzz once again!

The 49-year-old Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress will be making her directorial debut with the new movie One Night in Miami.

Here’s the movie’s synopsis: On one incredible night in 1964, four icons of sports, music, and activism gathered to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali, (Eli Goree), defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge).

The movie made its debut at the 2020 Venice Film Festival back in September, and earned Regina rave reviews.

Leslie Odom Jr. and his wife Nicolette Robinson are expecting their second child together!

The 39-year-old Hamilton actor and the 32-year-old Broadway actress announced the news on their Instagram accounts on Monday (November 9).

“Lots of reasons to celebrate over here. Lots of reasons for hope too. Baby boy and mama are doing swell. Praying for him and all the little ones on the way! The new class!! 🙏🏾🤟🏾 …We’ll make it right for you,” Leslie wrote on his account.

Nicolette added, “Sweet baby boy, we cannot wait to meet you❣️ More reasons to love, to live, to connect, to pave the way for you and other little ones arriving in this world… We love you. Arriving March 2021 💙.”

Leslie won a Tony Award for his work in the musical Hamilton and he also appeared in the movies Murder on the Orient Express, Harriet, and the upcoming One Night in Miami, for which he has Oscar buzz. Nicolette played Jenna in the Broadway musical Waitress.

See the cute photo they shared on Instagram!

The new movie One Night in Miami has been generating so much Oscars buzz ever since its Venice Film Festival premiere and now an L.A. audience has seen the film!

The cast of the movie attended the AFI Fest drive-in screening of the movie at the Rose Bowl on Monday evening (October 19) in Pasadena, Calif.

In attendance at the event were stars Leslie Odom Jr. (with wife Nicolette Robinson) and Eli Goree (with Ash Reynolds). Also there were Blair Underwood and Angela Bassett. To ensure that safety and health precautions were met, VIP guests enjoyed the film from the comfort of Audi e-tron electric vehicles.

One Night in Miami “tells a fictional account of one incredible evening, in which Muhammad Ali (Goree), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Sam Cooke (Odom) and Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) gather after Ali defeated Sonny Liston in February 1964.”

The movie was directed by Regina King and it will open in select theaters on December 25, 2020. Then it will begin streaming on Amazon Prime Video on January 15, 2021.

Regina King made her directorial debut with the upcoming movie One Night in Miami and now the film’s release plan has been revealed!

The movie had its festival debut last month and earned rave reviews, cementing its status as a frontrunner for the upcoming awards season. Regina could become the first Black woman to be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars, just two years after she won for acting.

One Night in Miami will open in select theaters on December 25, 2020 and then it will begin streaming on Amazon Prime Video on January 15, 2021.

As Variety reports, the movie “tells a fictional account of one incredible evening, in which Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) gather after Ali defeated Sonny Liston in February 1964.”

Regina said in a statement, “To complete and release a film within the same year is a difficult task. We welcomed the challenge because we knew now was the time for this film to be released. Amazon fully supported our intention and I could not be more excited this prescient story will be seen across the globe.”

Just a couple weeks ago, Regina achieved something pretty awesome!

Leslie Odom, Jr almost wasn’t in the Hamilton movie on Disney+.

The 39-year-old actor, who originated the role of Aaron Burr in the stage production, opened up about why he hesitated in saying yes to star in the movie over pay equity.

“They came to me with an offer and you know, ‘Leslie, we’re shooting tomorrow.’ I’m like, here’s the thing: This is it. This is my area of expertise. This is all I have. This is my life’s work on the stage, too. And so I just can’t sell it away for magic beans. I can’t give it away,” he recalled when speaking with Dax Shephard on his Armchair Expert podcast (via).

Leslie continued, “So I can ask CAA (Creative Artists Agency), ‘What does my white counterpart, what does Aaron Tveit make to do Grease Live! on TV? What does he make to do Grease? This is Hamilton live, right?”

“When I found out what he made, I didn’t ask for a penny more. I didn’t ask for one penny more, but I said, ‘You must pay me exactly what that white boy got to do Grease Live!’ That’s the bottom line.”

Leslie was adamant about pay equity for the movie and didn’t settle for anything less.

“The day before we shot that movie I called out. I was not kidding,” he added. “I was not coming to work the next day to do the movie. You know, I was not kidding. It was a principle for me and sometimes it doesn’t work out. Sometimes they look at you and go, ‘We’re just not paying it,’ and you have to go, ‘That’s OK.’”

Leslie won a Tony award for his performance as Burr in 2016.

If you missed it, you can see just how many people watched the production on Disney+ during its’ opening weekend.

The full list of 2020 Emmy Award nominations were just released this morning and a ton of them are first time nominees!

Among the first time nominees are Cate Blanchett, Taika Waititi and Octavia Spencer, who have already won Oscars; as well as Zendaya, Leslie Odom, Jr. and many others.

The show is currently set to take place on Sunday, September 20 at 8pm ET on ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting.

However, it’s still unclear just how the show will take place, whether it be a virtual program or a socially distanced one.

If you missed it, you can see the breakdown of nominations by network and just which star broke a major record!

Click inside to see all the first time nominees at the 2020 Emmy Awards…

The trailer for Apple TV+’s new animated series Central Park has been released!

The new musical-comedy series from the co-creator of Bob’s Burgers, featuring an all-star voice cast, will be premiering on May 29.

Here’s the show’s synopsis: Central Park is an animated musical comedy about the Tillermans, a family that lives in Central Park. Owen, the park manager, and Paige, his journalist wife, raise their kids Molly and Cole in the world’s most famous park, while fending off hotel heiress Bitsy Brandenham and her long suffering assistant Helen, who would love nothing more than to turn the park into condos.

Central Park‘s voice cast features Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Tituss Burgess, Daveed Diggs and Stanley Tucci.

Check out the trailer!