Showtime Picks Up “Let the Right One In” Vampire Drama Starring Demian Bichir

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Demián Bichir’s latest project is on the Right track…

Showtime has picked up to series the Let the Right One In, starring the 58-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated actor, completing the vampire drama’s long journey to the small screen.

The project, which also stars Anika Noni Rose, Grace Gummer, Madison Taylor Baez, Kevin Carroll, Ian Foreman and Jacob Buster, hails from Andrew Hinderaker, who wrote the pilot and serves as showrunner; Seith Mann, who directed the pilot and will also direct additional episodes; and Tomorrow Studios, which has been the driver behind the drama in its various incarnations for about seven years.

Inspired by the bestselling 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist and its 2008 Swedish film adaptation, the series is described as an exploration of human frailty, strength and compassion through an elevated genre lens. It centers on Mark (Bichir) and his daughter Eleanor (Baez), whose lives were changed forever 10 years earlier when she was turned into a vampire. Locked in at age 12, perhaps forever, Eleanor lives a closed-in life, able to go out only at night, while her father does his best to provide her with the human blood she needs to stay alive.

The series, which has received a 10-episode order and will go into production in New York City in early 2022, is executive produced by Hinderaker, Mann, and Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements for Tomorrow Studios, a partnership between Adelstein and ITV Studios.

Alissa Bachner serves as co-executive producer, and Bichir is a producer.

Let the Right One In originally was developed by Tomorrow Studios and set up at A&E and A+E Studios in 2015. A year later, it moved to TNT, where a pilot was ordered and cast but did not go to production. That version was closer to the original source material and was described as an eerie drama about a young boy, long tormented by his classmates, who finds solace in a friendship with a charismatic female vampire who appears to be near his age. Tomorrow Studios shopped the project and it ultimately landed at Showtime for redevelopment with a new writer, resulting in the incarnation that went to series.

Tracy Vilar to Star in the Netflix Dramedy “Maid”

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Posted on October 12, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Tracy Vilar is maid to order…

The 52-year-old Latina actress has been cast as a series regular opposite Margaret Qualley in Maid, Netflix’s dramedy series from writer Molly Smith Metzler, John Wells Productions, Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television.

Written by Metzler, Maid is inspired by Stephanie Land’s bestselling memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive. It revolves around Alex (Qualley), a single mother who turns to housekeeping to — barely — make ends meet as she battles against poverty, homelessness, and bureaucracy. Told primarily through her point of view, Maid is described as a beautiful, alive, gritty and inspiring exploration of poverty in America.

Vilar will play Yolanda, the owner of “Value Maids,” the cleaning business that eventually employs “Alex” (Qualley). A woman who suffers no fools and runs a tight ship, Yolanda has managed to survive in a world (and economy) that is not always kind to her.

In addition to Qualley, Vilar joins previously cast Andie MacDowell, Nick Robinson and Anika Noni Rose. Maid is currently filming in Vancouver.

Vilar co-starred on the CBS comedy series Partners. Her television series credits include major roles on Fox’s House and TNT’s Saved and guest shots on three Shondaland/ABC series, Grey’s Anatomy, How To Get Away with Murder and For the People. She also appeared in the features Grace of My Heart and K-Pax.

Krystina Alabado Joins Voice Cast of AMC’s Animated Drama Series “Pantheon”

Posted on August 8, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Krystina Alabado is getting animated…

The 31-year-old half-Mexican American actress, who stars as Gretchen Wieners in the Broadway music Mean Girls, has joined the voice cast of Pantheon, AMC’s first hour-long animated primetime drama series.

Alabado joins a voice cast that includes Daniel Dae Kim, Katie Chang, Ron Livingston, Chris Diamantopoulos, Raza Jaffrey, Scoot McNairy, Anika Noni Rose, Grey Griffin, SungWon Cho, Kevin Durand and Samuel Roukin.

They join previously announced Taylor Schilling, Paul Dano, Rosemarie DeWitt and Aaron Eckhart in the series, which hails from Craig Silverstein and AMC Studios.

Pantheon, which received a two-season order in March, is based on the short stories by Ken Liu about Uploaded Intelligence, or human consciousness uploaded to the cloud.

The innovative series’ visual style is described as a fresh take on graphic realism done in a traditional 2D way, using modern tools.

“Ken’s engaging and thought-provoking short stories pave the way for a deeply gripping series, and I couldn’t ask for a greater group of talented voices to bring these complex characters to life,” said Silverstein.

In its first season, Pantheon focuses on Maddie (Chang), a bullied teen who receives mysterious help from someone online. The stranger is soon revealed to be her recently deceased father, David (Kim), whose consciousness has been uploaded to the Cloud following an experimental destructive brain scan. David is the first of a new kind of being: an “Uploaded Intelligence” or “UI,” but he will not be the last, as a global conspiracy unfolds that threatens to trigger a new kind of world war.

Alabado will voice the character of Hannah.

In addition to starring in the Mean Girls musical, Alabado appeared on television in Tyrant and God Friended Me.

Lin-Manuel Miranda Among 300 BIPOC Artists to Sign Open Letter Demanding Change from the “White American Theater”

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Mirandais addressing the “White American Theater.”

As protests and rallies against racial injustice and the killing of black lives continue throughout the world, the 40-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, singer, rapper, actor, producer, and playwright is bringing the theater world into the spotlight, to address systemic racism against black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC).

An open letter addressed to “White American Theater” and demanding change was published earlier this week.

The letter was filled with ugly truths that those who’ve worked in the theater industry have experienced for decades.

Among the 300 BIPOCs who signed the letter were Miranda,Viola Davis, Sandra Oh, Uzo Aduba, Sterling K. Brown, Cynthia Erivo, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Danai Gurira, Andre Holland, Conrad Ricamora, Tanya Saracho, Anika Noni Rose, Jessica Hagedorn, Leslie Odom Jr.,Katori Halland others.

The letter bluntly calls out the industry: “We see you. We have always seen you. We have watched you pretend not to see us.”

“We have watched you exploit us, shame us, diminish us, and exclude us. We see you. We have always seen you. And now you will see us.”

It continues to drag theater’s history of tokenism, white privilege, patriarchy, blatant racism, bias and hypocrisy: “We have watched you amplify our voices when we are heralded by the press, but refuse to defend our aesthetic when we are not, allowing our livelihoods to be destroyed by a monolithic and racist culture.”

“Join us in demanding change for BIPOC theater artists at http://weseeyouWAT.com. #WeSeeYou #TomorrowTherellBeMoreOfUs,” Miranda tweeted, sharing the letter and a petition with everyone.

The open letter comes as the protests following the killing of George Floyd and other black lives continue around the globe. It also comes when there seems to be a reckoning in all industries when it comes to racial inequality.

Join us in demanding change for BIPOC theater artists at https://t.co/LQuqHwVvLP. #WeSeeYou #TomorrowTherellBeMoreOfUs pic.twitter.com/xELs1oJR6K
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 9, 2020

Red-Band Trailer Released for Bella Thorne’s “Assassination Nation”

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Bella Thorne is ready for a spook-tacularSeptember…

The new red-band trailerhas been released for Neon’s Assassination Nation, starring the 20-year-old half-Cuban American actress.

The clip comes complete with trigger warnings like “blood,” “sexism,” “toxic masculinity,” “kidnapping,” “murder” and “male gaze,” as if any of those warnings will keep the curious away.

In addition to Thorne, the film, written and directed by Sam Levinson, acquired by NEON with AGBO in a big Sundance Film Festival deal, stars Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, Abra, Anika Noni Rose, Colman Domingo, Maude Apatow, with Bill Skarsgård and Joel McHale.

If the trailer’s creepy little kid in a flag mask isn’t enough to give you the willies, here’s the logline: High school senior Lily and her group of friends live in a haze of texts, posts, selfies and chats just like the rest of the world. So, when an anonymous hacker starts posting details from the private lives of everyone in their small town, the result is absolute madness leaving Lily and her friends questioning whether they’ll live through the night.

Take a look at the red-band trailer but be warned of a few more triggers: homophobia, giant frogs, torture, to name a few.

As the narrator says, the film chronicles how her town of Salem “lost its motherf*cking mind.” And she promises, “This is 100 percent a true story.”

Assassination Nationhits theaters September 21.

Torres Among the Red-Hot Models at the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection Show

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Gina Torres is always red-y to raise awareness about women’s heart health…

The 44-year-old Cuban American actress, who currently stars as Jessica Pearson on the USA Network’s popular legal series Suits, had fashionistas seeing red during the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection show in New York City.

The event, sponsored by the American Heart Association Go Red For Women campaign, kicked off New York Fashion Week Thursday night at the Lincoln Center.

In honor of American Heart Month, Torres, Bella Thorne and Victoria Justice joined other red-hot celebrities, including NeNe Leakes, Anika Noni Rose and Leona Lewis, to walk the runway in designer red frocks, all to raise money for the cause.

This year’s Red Dress Collection designers included Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Carmen Mark Valvo, Mark Zunino and Donna Karan.

Here’s a look at Torres, Thorne and Justice in their red dresses.

Gina Torres flaunts her curvas in an eye-catching Marchesa dress during The Heart Truth Red Dress show.

Bella Thorne dons a sleek Badgley Mischka dress in the Go Red For Women-The Heart Truth Red Dress runway show.

Victoria Justice strikes a pose in a flowery Oscar de la Renta dress in the Red Dress show.

Heart disease reportedly causes one in three women’s deaths each year, killing approximately one woman every minute. It’s estimated that 43-million women in the United States are affected by heart disease.

Here are some important facts about Latinas and heart disease:

Hispanic women are likely to develop heart disease 10 years earlier than Caucasian women.
Only 1 in 3 Hispanic women are aware that heart disease is their No. 1 killer
Only 3 in 10 Hispanic women say they have been informed that they are at a higher risk.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

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