Unseeing The Slap; RIP Loretta Lynn; Shotgun Wedding Trailer

A survey among Academy voters about whether they can get past The Slap this awards season when it comes to Emancipation starring Will Smith; Loretta Lynn, country icon and subject of multiple movies, has died; Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel’s Shotgun Wedding trailer is here. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.

Nashville Film Festival Winners: Gabriel Martins’ Mars One won Best Narrative Film and Tracey Arcabasso Smith’s Relative won Best Documentary at the 53rd edition of the Nashville Film Festival. And Still I Sing won Best Music Documentary, while Alex Heller’s The Year Between got the Best New Directors Feature. Best Tennessee Feature went to director Waheed AlQawasmi’s Jacir, which was made with an assist from our own MovieMaker Production Services. You can read the full list of winners here.

‘The World Can’t Unsee The Slap’: That’s what one anonymous Academy member told The Hollywood Reporter in a survey that took the temperature of Academy voters regarding whether they would consider voting for Will Smith should he be nominated for Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation, which, it was announced yesterday, will get a December release that makes it eligible for the next Oscar race.

The Crowd Is Divided: Some Academy voters said they would put memories of The Slap aside, while others said it was simply too soon. “No chance I would vote for him,” one member of the director’s branch of the Academy said. Another argued, “Hundreds of people worked on that film, and they shouldn’t be penalized. As far as it being a contender, if it’s well-received, well done and deserving, it should be allowed to be given its shot and let the voters decide. Re: Will? I don’t know. He did something terrible. He apologized. We have to allow people to grow and learn and atone.”

RIP Loretta Lynn: The pioneering country star played by Sissy Spacek in the 1980 biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter has passed away at the age of 90, according to Variety. The outlet adds that Lynn was believed to be the model for Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakely), the fictional country star in Robert Altman’s 1975 film Nashville. Lynn was also portrayed by actress Jessie Mueller in the 2019 movie Patsy & Loretta, about Lynn’s friendship with fellow country singer Patsy Cline. In addition to Lynn’s biggest hit, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” she’s also known for songs like “Honky Tonk Girl” and duets with Conway Twitty, including “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man.”

The Little Horror Flick That Could: Vulture has a really interesting story about how Barbarian, a relatively low-budget horror movie (we’re talking $4.5 million) directed by Zach Cregger and starring Justin Long and Bill Skarsgård, became a box office success with a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Shotgun Wedding Trailer: Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel turn from a soon-to-be-wedded couple to a pair of vigilante warriors when the guests at their destination wedding are taken hostage. Jennifer Coolidge adds some fun mother-of-the-groom energy to this absolutely bonkers trailer, making me very excited to watch the movie when it comes out on Jan. 27.

Main Image: Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel in Shotgun Wedding. Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Video