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Nelsan Ellis, “True Blood”‘s Lafayette, Dies at 39

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It is truly a sad day for fans of “True Blood”.  Nelsan Ellis, who played the sassy, out and proud Lafayette Reynolds, has died from complications due to heart failure.  The actor was 39 years old.

Ellis grew up between Illinois and Alabama due to his parents’ divorce when he was a child.  The actor ultimately settled in Dolton, Illinois, however, to finish out the remainder of his high school education.  He graduated in 1997 and was accepted into the prestigious Julliard school where he studied acting.  During his time at the school, Ellis wrote a play called “Ugly”.  The subject was domestic abuse, and Ellis wrote it in response to the death of his own sister, who was shot to death by her husband.  Not only was the play performed, but it also won the Lincoln Center for the Arts’ Martin A. Segal Award.

From Julliard, he began developing his career with smaller roles on film and guest appearances on television before taking on the role that would cement his name in the horror history books.

Lafayette Reynolds burst onto the screen in the series premiere of the hit HBO series “True Blood”, based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.  What had been a barely mentioned character in the source material became fully alive in Ellis’s hands.

Lafayette was bold and unapologetic for his sexual orientation despite the constant opposition he faced in the small town Louisiana setting of the series. Fans would be hard pressed to forget this scene in which he confronts the homophobic comments made by some of Sam’s bar patrons.  They men implied that they didn’t want to get AIDS from Lafayette’s cooking, and well, you can see how he handled it.

By the end of season one, it was clear that Lafayette was a character the fans were passionate about and so the writers decided to stray from the book, one of many times they did so, and kept Lafayette alive even though he’d been scheduled to die in the series finale.

Though many things wavered in the seven seasons of the series, Lafayette remained a driving force, and Ellis infused each moment with sensitivity, charm, humor, and honesty.

Due to the character, Ellis was often asked about how he felt about issues the LGBTQ community faced.  In an interview with “Vibe” magazine, when asked what he thought on the subject of gay marriage, he was quoted as saying:

“I support it. I think anybody should – I mean – I have my religious views, but I don’t choose to oppress them on anybody. I think in this country, anybody can do whatever they want to do as long as it’s not hurting anybody else or violating the laws of society. If you want to get married to a man then get married to a man. If two women want to get married they should get married. It’s not hurting me. The beautiful thing about this country is that I can be a Christian and feel free to do so. Or somebody cannot be a Christian and do whatever that entails. Or somebody can be a Christian and still be gay and I support it. Let gay people get married.”

Ellis’s “True Blood” co-stars took to Twitter to remember their fallen comrade.

We here at iHorror send our thoughts and condolences to Ellis’s family and friends during this time of tragedy.  Rest well in the light, and thanks for Lafayette.

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

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The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

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