user: Colts punter Pat McAfee posts half-naked photo of Andrew Luck on Twitter

Colts punter posts this photo on Twitter shortly after the game. It was quickly deleted after he noticed Andrew Luck (l.) naked in background.

Pat McAfee probably should have punted this one.

After the Colts’ stunning 45-44 playoff victory over the Chiefs on Saturday, the Indy punter tweeted out a photo of teammate Adam Vinatieri being interviewed by the media. Apparently, he didn’t notice Andrew Luck standing in the corner of the Colts’ locker room — naked — with the exception of a strategically placed cell phone and towel.

McAfee tweeted this after realizing what was in the image: “Oh boy.. Half naked Andrew in the back of that last one.. He looked damn good though.”

Oh boy.. Half naked Andrew in the back of that last one.. He looked damn good though

Summary: Pat McAfee probably should have punted this one.After the Colts’ stunning 45-44 playoff victory over the Chiefs on Saturday, the Indy punter tweeted out a photo of teammate Adam Vinatieri being interviewed by the media.


Brutal slavery drama The Birth of a Nation wows Sundance

Hollywood may be reeling from the controversy over the lack of diversity among this year’s Academy Award nominations, but at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival it’s a different story. The festival’s prestigious US dramatic competition has already debuted a number of films where diversity is at the forefront, including critics' favourites Morris From America and Southside With You, the latter of which centres on the first date between Barack and Michelle Obama.

On Monday afternoon one of the more anticipated premieres of the festival joined that list: Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation. Set in 1831 Virginia, the film tells the true story of Nat Turner (played by Parker), a slave who learns to read and eventually becomes a charismatic preacher. As the atrocities against his fellow slaves begin to increase he decides to organise a rebellion that leads to the death of 60 white slave owners and their families.

Parker’s script fails him slightly by including too many familiar tropes of the period, but he directs the picture with a clear and passionate vision that will impress many of his peers. He wants the audience to experience the brutality the slaves endured during the period as well as the bloody revenge Turner and his men eventually inflicted upon them. For the most part, he pulls it off.

Best known for his performance in the 2014 thriller Non-Stop, and the overlooked romance Beyond the Lights, Parker spent seven years trying to get the film to the screen. At one point he was so frustrated by the lack of financing that he told his agents he would suspend his acting career until the film was made.

Many in the sold out 1200-seat Eccles Theater were aware of Parker’s efforts and gave him a standing ovation before the film even screened, a rarity at Sundance. Nearly two hours later the closing credits had barely begun and the crowd was once again on its feet, with many in tears.

During the post-screening Q&A Parker reflected on his long journey to bring the movie to the screen, and pointed to some important advice a legendary filmmaker gave him: “George Lucas, when I was doing Red Tails, said, ‘When everyone says it can’t be done, that’s when you know you’re on the right track.’ I sacrificed what I believed to be everything, but even still it can never compare to what Nat Turner did."

Hammer’s character goes from being a childhood playmate of Turner’s to his increasingly frustrated owner. As you might expect, the role was not fun to play.

“There were definitely some days where Nate had to stop everything we were doing and remind us why were all here, because everybody felt the emotional burden of it,” Hammer recalls. “It was a heavy subject matter, but it was a story that needed to be told and we were there for a reason.”

The response to the drama was so impassioned that many now expect it to win the festival’s Audience Award and the prestigious Jury Prize as well. That, along with a likely acquisition by a significant US distributor, may give Turner some comfort, but he still sees that there is a significant battle to be waged for true minority equality in Hollywood.

“It all goes back to the original DW Griffith," Parker told the audience, referring to the director of the racially charged, Ku Klux Klan-supporting 1915 film from which The Birth of a Nation takes its title.

“That was it. We are built on sand in this industry, we just are. And if we don’t give it attention we’re gonna have these racist issues and an infrastructure that we’re going to have to deal with for generations and generations.”

Summary:

assistant: Sundance offers an antidote to #OscarsSoWhite with a brutal account of Nat Turner's 1831 slave rebellion