For Jessica Chastain, the third time is the charm. After two previous nominations – one for Best Supporting Actress in “The Help,” another for Best Actress in “Zero Dark Thirty” – Chastain has been named Best Actress at the 94th Academy Awards for her portrayal of infamous televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in Michael Showalter’s “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”

View Our Complete List of 2022 Oscar Winners

Even before the nominees were announced, Chastain had been considered one of the leading candidates for the Best Actress award; she made our shortlist all the way back in September 2021.

Continue reading Jessica Chastain Wins Best Actress For ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ at The Playlist.

You might have read that Jessica Chastain is likely forgoing Oscar’s red carpet this year. That’s because the Best Actress nominee for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” wants to make sure she’s on hand to watch the Makeup and Hair category, one of eight awards that will not be announced live during the telecast. She’ll be there not only because the “Tammy Faye” team helped transform her into the infamous evangelical singer, but because two of the three nominees, Linda Dowds and Stephanie Ingram, have been by her side for over a decade on 16 different projects.

Continue reading How The Oscar-Nominated Makeup & Hair Artists Brought ‘Tammy Faye’ To Life at The Playlist.

You likely are unaware of their names, but Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey have produced and/or directed some of the most influential pieces of filmed content over the past thirty years. Through their production company, World of Wonder, they have won five Emmy Awards for “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a global phenomenon that has spawned seven international spin-offs, including a BAFTA-nominated entry for the BBC. And they have produced a slew of other reality programs, including the “Million Dollar Listing” franchise for Bravo.

Continue reading Randy Barbato & Fenton Bailey On Legacy Of ‘Eyes Of Tammy Faye,’ The Not Completely Golden Doc Market & Those Pesky ‘All-Stars’ Rules [Interview] at The Playlist.

Are you feeling pretty? Or feeling monstrous? Look no further than the 10 films still in the mix for the 20220 Makeup and Hairstyling Academy Award. “Cruella,” “Dune,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and “The Suicide Squad” were expected among the list. “No Time To Die” and “West Side Story” were slight surprises.

READ MORE: “Cruella” with Emma Stone [Review]

Notable snubs in this category at this stage included “Spencer,” “Eternals,” “The Matrix Resurrections,” “Being the Ricardos,” “King Richard” and “The Last Night in Soho,” among others.

Continue reading ‘Cruella’, ‘Eyes of Tammy Faye’ Style To Oscars 2022 Makeup & Hairstyling Shortlist at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

This week’s new streaming and disc guide (okay, it’s mostly a disc guide) is a back-breaker – which is unsurprising, with the holidays approaching, and the hunt for gift ideas already heating up.

Continue reading The Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Passing,’ ‘Scream,’ ‘The Eyes Of Tammy Faye’ & More at The Playlist.

The televangelist biopic “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” is in theaters now and generating Oscar buzz for actress Jessica Chastain. Doing the press rounds to help promote her Toronto International Film Festival-premiering film, the actress recently spoke with host Josh Horowitz on his podcast Happy Sad Confused (listen below). Topics ranged, and she did reveal the director and co-star of her upcoming Tammy Wynette limited series (John Hillcoat and Michael Shannon), but of course, she couldn’t help but field questions about superheroes and that milieu, given her various experiences.

Continue reading Jessica Chastain More Interested In Supervillains Than Heroes & Cagey About Discussing ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ at The Playlist.

Jessica Chastain isn’t the only connection between “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and the upcoming Paramount+ “George and Tammy” limited series. Abe Sylvia, a co-executive producer on “The Affair” and “Dead to Me,” is the screenwriter. And Chastain is how he got the opportunity to help bring Tammy Faye Bakker’s story to the big screen.

READ MORE: ‘The Eyes Of Tammy Faye’: Jessica Chastain Unlocks Empathy & Redemption For A Televangelist Grifter [TIFF Review]

“It started with a spec script that I wrote for Jessica Chastain she was attached to about George Jones and Tammy Wynette,” Sylvia recalls.

Continue reading ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ Screenwriter Hopes Jim Bakker Will Watch It [Interview] at The Playlist.

According to the basic tenets of Christian scripture, all god’s creatures are worthy of judgment-free love. And while the hypocrisy of those words is rarely interrogated in “The Eyes Of Tammy Faye” — the bible belt preachers and communities presented in the film often fail to practice what they preach and are never forced to examine their own accumulation of wealth — these parts of the bible are really not the film’s concern.

Continue reading ‘The Eyes Of Tammy Faye’: Jessica Chastain Unlocks Empathy & Redemption For A Televangelist Grifter [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

You’ve seen Jessica Chastain in extravagant period pieces. You’ve seen her in Palme d’Or-winning masterpieces. You’ve seen her play a hustler’s hustler. And you’ve even seen her fight supernatural, otherworldly figures. But, the one thing you haven’t seen, or heard, is the Oscar nominee sing. And that’s one of the welcome surprises in the new biopic, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” which has its world premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival this weekend.

Continue reading How Jessica Chastain Got A ‘Star Is Born’ Assist To Sing As ‘Tammy Faye’ [Interview] at The Playlist.

Another fall season, another deluge of fall film festival movies and previews. If you’ve been playing along, and hopefully, you have, you’ve already seen our coverage from the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado and Italy’s Venice International Film Festival. These two fests are the one-two punch that kicks off the season (and in some respects, Oscar season two), but making its presence known in the September deluge is the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada. 

READ MORE: Fall 2021 Movie Preview: 60+ Must-See Films

Truthfully and logistically, Toronto’s had a harder time than any of the other festivals this fall, having to deal with COVID-19 protocols that were a bit more last minute and restrictive than the festival would like.

Continue reading Toronto Film Fest 2021 Preview: 16 Must-See Movies To Watch at The Playlist.

With summer ending far too soon, the only consolation is that it would seem like the film industry is finally readying itself for a return to “normalcy” both for better or worse. Festival season is upon us with Venice, Toronto, Telluride, and the New York Film Festival all gearing up as tired and frantic critics try to make viewing schedules. We also have our extensive fall preview with everything from blockbusters to the likely Oscar contenders.

Continue reading 12 Movies To Watch In September: ‘Card Counter,’ ‘Eyes Of Tammy Faye’ & More at The Playlist.

Trust us when we say we hope there’s a day when the words pandemic and COVID-19 are never written on the pages of this website again, specifically in any intros to any features. However, the reality is that the collective disruption of 2020 was difficult, and it made 2021’s release schedule something of a log-jammed shitshow. That Delta variant could play havoc with things too, but we’re all starting to learn to live with a world that’s in flux. 

READ MORE: The Best Films Of 2021, So Far

All that said, the delays of 2021 have had their pluses.

Continue reading Fall 2021 Movie Preview: 60+ Must-See Films at The Playlist.

For those hoping that the next set of announcements for the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival was going to feature some show-stopping premieres, you might be a little letdown. That isn’t to say TIFF 2021 is going to be a letdown, as the lineup so far is really strong. However, the latest announcement might not have the massive premieres you were hoping for—unless you’re one of those people dying to see “Clifford the Big Red Dog.”

READ MORE: Jake Gyllenhaal’s ‘The Guilty’ Remake Joins ‘Dune,’ ‘Last Night In Soho’ & More In TIFF’s Early Official Selections

Obviously, kidding aside, TIFF 2021 is shaping up to be a massive festival that is going to be jam-packed with huge films and screenings.

Continue reading TIFF 2021: ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Opening The Festival As ‘Clifford,’ ‘Tammy Faye’ & More Added To Lineup at The Playlist.

Jessica Chastain, an actress long-reputed for her versatility, may have made her most stunning transformation yet.  In “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Chastain goes deeply incognito as the titular singing pioneer of post-’60s televangelism. Equally unrecognizable is Andrew Garfield as Faye’s showbiz partner and first husband, Jim Bakker.  

READ MORE: Summer 2021 Preview: Over 50 Movies To
Watch

According to the official synopsis, the film is “an intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall, and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. 

Continue reading ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ Trailer: Jessica Chastain & Andrew Garfield Play Notorious Televangelist Couple In New Biopic at The Playlist.

One of the most anticipated films arriving this fall is the drama, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” Not only is the real-life story the film is inspired by worthy of attention, but the fact that the feature is led by Andrew Garfield and Jessica Chastain in the roles of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, respectively, is enough to guarantee a ticket sale for most film fans. And in the first-look photos and interview from People, it’s clear the hype about ‘Eyes’ is real.

Continue reading Jessica Chastain & Andrew Garfield Are Unrecognizable In First-Look Photos From ‘The Eyes Of Tammy Faye’ at The Playlist.

With the first half of 2021, reportedly, about to get devastated by studio delays due to the pandemic, it appears that the second half of the year is really when films are going to begin to hit theaters in full force again. And Searchlight Pictures is ready to stake its claim on several dates beginning in July for some of our most anticipated films of the year.

According to Searchlight, the studio has decided to finally unveil official release dates for the films “The Night House,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” “Antlers,” and “Nightmare Alley.” All four of which are expected to be some of the most talked-about releases of 2021.

Continue reading Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Nightmare Alley’ Coming In December As Searchlight Unveils Dates For Several 2021 Films at The Playlist.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. Aside from the election result, Trashfire 2020™ was a shitty year. And a weird and disorienting year thanks to COVID-19 and having to shelter-in-place, quarantine, and social distance from one another blah, blah, blah coronavirus f*cked us hard. Movies certainly took it in the teeth this year, and especially the theatrical industrial complex, which feels like it’s on its last legs. But regardless of what happens next for theaters, people are going to continue making and releasing movies.

Continue reading The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021 at The Playlist.

Michael Showalter has turned from one of the guys behind “Wet Hot American Summer” into an acclaimed comedic director in no time, thanks to his work on his two recent films “Hello, My Name is Doris” (delightful and underseen) and, of course, “The Big Sick,” which was nominated for an Oscar in 2018. Now, Showalter is keeping his director’s chair warm with a new feature film, joined by two of the biggest stars in the world.

Continue reading Jessica Chastain & Andrew Garfield To Play Disgraced Televangelists In Michael Showalter’s ‘Tammy Faye’ at The Playlist.