Rene Rosado is theorizing…
The Latino actor has joined the cast of the indie thriller The Low End Theory from Atomic Features Production.
Rosado is among a roster of cast additions that includes Eddie Martinez, Ricky Russert and actor/rapper Scotty Tovar.
They join previously announced lead Sofia Yepes who is also a co-writer and producer on the film.
The Low End Theory—based on a story by Yepes—centers around Raquel (Yepes), an aspiring beats producer in the low-budget hip-hop world moonlighting as a drug money launderer, who ends up stealing from her crime-lord boss to pay off debts owed by the woman with whom she is having an obsessive affair.
The project reunites Yepes with Francisco Ordoñez, who wrote the screenplay for The Low End Theory and will also serve as the films’ director in his debut.
Yepes’ first on-screen role was in Ordoñez’s short film St. Paul, winner of the Imagen Foundation award.
“I grew up almost never seeing people that looked like me in the films I loved, and it’s my hope that we can now start to inhabit the classic Hollywood genres with our unique perspectives and experiences,” said Yepes in a statement to Deadline. “In the years since Francisco first cast me in St. Paul, we have built a close-knit community of Latinx storytellers that have supported each other’s artistic endeavors, and this film is an outcome of that.”
Added Ordoñez, “Sofia and I have dreamt of bringing this project to fruition for many years, so it’s gratifying to arrive in a film climate that is finally supporting diverse and representative stories like this one. We hope that this film, while deeply personal, can also be universal in its appeal, both within our communities and beyond them.”
Described as a fresh take on a film noir, the movie is one of the first to take this classic genre and set it within the Latinx and LGBTQ+ world, and its crew will be heavily represented by these communities.
“This film is an exciting opportunity for our company to continue its focus on stories and filmmakers from traditionally underrepresented communities. As producers who came up on the creative side ourselves, our mission is to support, protect and empower these filmmakers to achieve their vision, and bring their distinct and compelling voices to the marketplace,” said producer Daniel Ragussis of Atomic Features.
The film is set to shoot in Los Angeles this summer.