The 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival announced Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Erykah Badu and composer Daniele Luppi as Artists in Residence, as well as a conversation with Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine, stars of the Festival’s opening night film Bernie. Screen Gems’ Attack the Block and Lionsgate’s The Devil’s Double have also been added to the Galas section.
As an Artist in Residence, Erykah Badu will present a screening of Ricky Gervais’ The Invention of Lying, followed by a conversation. Universal Motown artist Erykah Badu is a Grammy Award-winning American soul singer and songwriter. Daniele Luppi will present a screening of Italian genre maestro Sergio Corbucci’s Navajo Joe, followed by a conversation about movies and music. Italian-born composer, record producer and arranger, Daniele Luppi has worked on Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s epic “Dark Night of the Soul,” Gnarls Barkley’s Grammy-winning “St. Elsewhere” and John Legend’s platinum-selling “Once Again.”
As part of the Festival Conversations, Bernie co-stars Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine — two beloved and celebrated actors — (try to) answer questions about their careers and body of work in a fun, game show approach to the old career discussion. This freewheeling evening will be moderated by Leonard Maltin.
The Festival has added two more high-profile films to its Gala section. Screen Gems’ Attack the Block is written and directed by Joe Cornish and stars Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Jumayn Hunter and Nick Frost. From the producers of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Attack the Block follows a gang of tough inner-city kids who defend their turf against an invasion of savage alien creatures, turning a South London apartment complex into an extraterrestrial warzone.
Lionsgate’s The Devil’s Double is directed by Lee Tamahori, written by Michal Thomas and stars Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Mimoun Oaissa, Raad Rawi and Philip Quast. Based on an unbelievable, but true story of money, power and opulent decadence, The Devil’s Double is about an Iraqi army lieutenant ordered to become the body double for “Black Prince” Uday Hussein, a reckless, sadistic party-boy with a rabid hunger for sex and brutality.