America Ferrera to Serve as Presenter at This Year’s Oscars

Win or lose, America Ferrera will be taking the Oscars stage…

The 39-year-old Honduran American actress, who earned her first-ever Academy Awards nod this year for her performance in Barbie, will serve as a presenter at Sunday’s Oscars.

She’s part of a roster of new presenters that includes Emily Blunt, Cynthia Erivo, Sally Field, Ryan Gosling, Ariana Grande, Ben Kingsley, Melissa McCarthy, Issa Rae, Tim Robbins, Steven Spielberg, Mary Steenburgen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlize Theron, Christoph Waltz and Forest Whitaker.

They join previous announced presenters Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Jennifer Lawrence, Kate McKinnon, Rita Moreno, John Mulaney, Catherine O’Hara, Octavia Spencer and Ramy Youssef, Mahershala Ali, Nicolas Cage, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Jessica Lange, Matthew McConaughey, Lupita Nyong’o, Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ke Huy Quan, Sam Rockwell, Michelle Yeoh and Zendaya.

The Oscars will be broadcast live on March 10 ceremony from the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

Jimmy Kimmel is returning to host the ceremony for a fourth time.

ABC, which has aired the Oscars since 1976, is televising the show live starting at 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT — an hour earlier that usual. The network, which has begun to use the Oscars as a lead-out to showcase its top programming, will follow its coverage of the live ceremony with an original episode of Abbott Elementary.

ABC’s time tweak also means that its annual pre-show will now run for 30 minutes — instead of the usual 90 — beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. As per usual, the main Oscar telecast will be rebroadcast in the Pacific Time zone in primetime after the live presentation.

Raj Kapoor will serve as showrunner and executive producer of the 96th Oscars, with Molly McNearney and Katy Mullan executive producers. Hamish Hamilton is directing.

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Rafael Nadal to Win Inaugural Netflix Slam

Carlos Alcaraz has earned another type of Slam victory.

The 20-year-old Spanish tennis phenom defeated 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal 3-6 6-4 (14-12) at the inaugural Netflix Slam in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Netflix SlamNadal, who spent almost a year on the sidelines with a hip flexor injury before suffering a muscle injury at the start of this season, said he felt “much better than expected” during the exhibition match in front of a sell-out crowd of 9,489, including Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charlize Theron, Danai Gurira, Logan Lerman and Manu Rios.

The showdown, the latest in Netflix‘s push for live streaming events, pitted two superstar Spaniards in an exhibition match which was rescheduled from last year due to Nadal’s injuries and arrived just in time as the two players head to Indian Wells this week.

Nadal is returning to the tour after months away due to injury, while the match was also a bit of a physical test for Alcaraz, who suffered an injury to his right ankle at the Rio Open.

“It’s a good thing that as a player I will not face him many times,” said Nadal.

“As a fan, I will enjoy watching him for many years hopefully. In Spain, we should be very, very happy about having someone like Carlos coming.

“He’s an amazing player. He’s only 20-years-old and he’s already won two Grand Slams and a couple of important tournaments.”

Becky G to Serve as Guest Judge on Season 16 of MTV’s “RuPaul‘s Drag Race”

Life’s a drag for Becky G

The new season of RuPaul‘s Drag Race has set up an all-star lineup to guest judge Season 16, including the 26-year-old Mexican American bilingual singer/actress.

Becky GMaking her debut on the reality television competition program that aims to discover America’s next drag superstar, Becky G appears among a list of guest judges that includes Charlize Theron and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

MTV will premiere the new season on Friday, January 5 at 8:00 pm ET.

Other guest judges that will appear during the season include Adam Shankman, Icona Pop (Caroline Hjelt + Aino Jawo), Isaac Mizrahi, Jamal Sims, Joel Kim Booster, Kaia Gerber, Kelsea Ballerini, Kyra Sedgwick, Law Roach, Mayan Lopez and Ronan Farrow.

RuPaul’s Drag Race features mainstay judges Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews and Ts Madison for the 16th season. Fourteen queens will compete for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” and a cash prize of $200k.

The previously announced cast of queens include Amanda Tori Meating (Los Angeles, CA), Dawn (Brooklyn, NY), Geneva Karr (Brownsville, TX), Hershii LiqCour-Jeté (Los Angeles, CA), Megami (Brooklyn, NY), Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige (Miami, FL), Mirage (Las Vegas, NV), Morphine Love Dion (Miami, FL), Nymphia Wind (Taiwan/NY), Plane Jane (Boston, MA), Plasma (New York, NY), Q (Kansas City, MO), Sapphira Cristál (Philadelphia, PA), and Xunami Muse (New York, NY).

RuPaul’s Drag Race and the after-show RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked are produced by World of Wonder Productions with Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Tom Campbell, Steven Corfe, Mandy Salangsang, Michele Mills and RuPaul Charles serving as executive producers.

Pilar Palomero’s “The Girls” Wins Big at the Goya Awards

Pilar Palomero is celebrating a Girls night like no other…

The 40-year-old Spanish film director and screenwriter’s coming-of-age story The Girls has taken home the top prizes, including best picture, at the 35th annual Goya Awards.

Pilar Palomero

The annual Spain awards show, hosted by Antonio Banderas, also saw Palomero’s drama win the prizes for new director, original screenplay and cinematography.

The 35th Goya Awards adopted a hybrid format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and featured talent presenting and receiving awards virtually or on-site at an audience-less Teatro del Soho CaixaBank.

Pilar Palomero, The Girls

Among the Hollywood names presenting the event’s various awards were Pedro Almódovar, Penélope Cruz, J.A. Bayona, Alejandro Amenábar and Paz Vega.

The ceremony also featured pre-recorded messages from a number of Hollywood names including Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern and Charlize Theron.

1492: Conquest of Paradise and Broken Embraces actress Angelina Molina took home the ceremony’s Honorary Goya award.

Here’s the full list of winners at the 35th annual Goya Awards:

FILM
The Girls (Pilar Palomero)

DIRECTOR
Salvador Calvo (Adú)

NEW DIRECTOR
Pilar Palomero (The Girls)

ACTRESS
Patricia López Arnaiz (Ane)

ACTOR
Mario Casas (No matarás)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Nathalie Poza (Rosa’s Wedding)

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alberto San Juan (Sentimental)

NEW ACTRESS
Jone Laspiur (Ane)

NEW ACTOR
Adam Nourou (Adú)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Pilar Palomero (The Girls)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
David Pérez Sañudo, Marina Parés Pulido (Ane)

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Ana Parra, Luis Fernández Lago (Adú)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Daniela Cajías (The Girls)

EDITING
Sergio Jiménez (The Year of the Discovery)

ART DIRECTION
Mikel Serrano (Akelarre)

COSTUME DESIGN
Nerea Torrijos (Akelarre)

MAKEUP AND HAIR DESIGN
Beata Wotjowicz, Ricardo Molina (Akelarre)

SOUND
Eduardo Esquide, Jamaica Ruíz García, Juan Ferro, Nicolas de Poulpiquet (Adú)

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Mariano García Marty, Ana Rubio, (Akelarre)

ORIGINAL MUSIC
Aránzazu Calleja, Maite Arroitajauregi (Akelarre)

ORIGINAL SONG
“Que no, que no,” (María Rozalén for Rosa’s Wedding)

ANIMATED FEATURE
Turu, the Wacky Hen (Eduardo Gondell, Víctor Monigote)

DOCUMENTARY
The Year of the Discovery (Luis López Carrasco)

IBERO-AMERICAN FILM
Forgotten We’ll Be (Fernando Trueba, Colombia)

EUROPEAN PICTURE
The Father (Florian Zeller, U.K., France)

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
A la cara (Javier Marco)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Biography of a Woman’s Corpse (Mabel Lozano)

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Blue & Malone: Casos imposibles (Abraham López Guerrero)

HONORARY GOYA
Angela Molina

Universal Announces Plans to End Michelle Rodriguez’s Fast & Furious Franchise with Two Final Films

It’s the beginning of the end for Michelle Rodriguez.

Universal Pictures is planning to wrap up its Fast & Furious core film franchise, starring the 42-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress, with two final movies that will bring to a close a franchise.

Michelle Rodriguez The Limit

The Fast & Furious films have revved their way to become the highest-grossing movie series in the studio’s history. Justin Lin, who’s in post-production on F9, is in talks to direct the final two installments and bring a saga that began nearly 20 years ago to a close.

It’s early days on when this will begin production but it seems likely they will tell a big story over two films that will focus on franchise patriarch Vin Diesel and bring back Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel and Sung Kang.

F9 — which is the fifth film in the franchise directed by Lin and which premieres next Memorial Day — continues the storyline of the core cast and Charlize Theron, and adds John Cena, Helen Mirren, Grammy-winner Cardi B and reggaeton star Ozuna. They are just beginning to put the final two vehicles together. There’s speculation that Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham — core cast members who peeled off for the F&F spinoff Hobbs & Shaw after Johnson and Diesel had a falling out — will be back for the finale.

There’s also an opportunity to pull off the motorhead’s answer to Marvel’s Avengers, a configuration that might include Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot, also part of the ensemble earlier in her career.

It might not have seemed probable back when The Fast & Furious launched the franchise in 2001 with Diesel and Paul Walker as lead-footed protagonists, but the entire series has eclipsed Jurassic Park to become Universal’s biggest. The eight movies and the spinoff have grossed around $5.7 billion; Jurassic is also over $5 billion and has its next installment, Jurassic World: Dominion, shooting in London.

The Fast franchise survived the tragic death of cornerstone star Walker, but it’s always good to end the race before the vehicle runs out of gas. There are still plans for other movie spinoffs and TV shows, so there will be no call for the studio to be calling Kars for Kids to cart away a junker.

It is likely that the final two installments will be produced by Diesel through his One Race Films banner, Jeff Kirschenbaum, Lin, Neal Moritz, Joe Roth, Clayton Townsend and Samantha Vincent. They are the producers of F9.

Lin berthed his Perfect Storm Entertainment banner at Universal in a multi-year overall film and TV deal in late summer, and these two films will likely keep him busy for a long time.

Universal Moves Release Date of Michelle Rodriguez’s “F9” to Memorial Day 2021

Michelle Rodriguez is getting some push back…

Universal Pictures has announced plans to move F9, starring the 42-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress, to May 28, 2021, which is Memorial Day weekend.

Michelle Rodriguez F9

The move comes after MGM moved its James Bond pic No Time to Die, starring Ana de Armas, to April 2, 2021 — which had been the release date for this latest installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise.

In March, F9 drove out of its original May 22, 2020 global day-and-date release amid the coronavirus lockdown. The studio had previously reserved that April 2021 date for Fast & Furious 10.

Justin Lin returns to direct F9 a cast that includes Rodriguez, who portrays Letty Ortiz, Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Cardi B and Ozuna.

The entire franchise, including spinoff Hobbs & Shaw, through nine movies counts $5.9 billion at the worldwide box office.

Aimee Garcia to Star In & Executive Produce the Rom-Com “Match Me If You Can”

Aimee Garcia has met her match

The 41-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexican American actress and Lucifer star will executive produce and star in Match Me If You Can, a romantic comedy about the world of dating in today’s geek culture. 

Aimee Garcia

Marian Yeager is directing the film from a script by Betsy Morris.

Garcia, who’ll reprise her role as Ella Lopez in the sixth and final season of Netflix’s Lucifer, will play Kip Parsons, a talented computer nerd who is rejected by an online dating service as “unmatchable.” After her online blog about her humiliating status goes viral, Kip quickly becomes the reluctant spokesperson for all the frustrated singles out there. There’s just one problem: the dating service swears they didn’t reject her and she becomes the target of a kangaroo court.

Production is slated to commence Spring 2021 in Texas.

Garcia, who can be heard in the forthcoming Marvel M.O.D.O.K. animated series at Hulu, has previously appeared in Showtime’s DexterThe George Lopez ShowRoboCop, opposite Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton, Lorenzo DiBonaventura’s superhero movie El Chicano, and MGM’s The Addams Family with Charlize Theron and Oscar Isaac.

Shakira to Take Part in Global Citizen’s “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future – The Concert”

Shakirais going global…

Global Citizen and the European Commission have joined forces for Global Goal: Unite for Our Future – The Concert, with the43-year-oldColombian singer-songwriter set to perform.

Shakira

Dwayne Johnson will host the event, which will take place on Saturday, June 27. 

The Concertwill be televised worldwide and digitally streamed special that will highlight the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has on marginalized communities.

In addition to Shakira, The Concertwill feature performances from Jennifer HudsonChloe x HalleChristine and the QueensColdplayJ BalvinJustin Bieber and Quavo, Miley CyrusUsher and Yemi Alade

In addition, there will be appearances from Billy PorterCharlize TheronChris Rock, David BeckhamDerrick JohnsonDiane KrugerForest WhitakerHugh JackmanKen JeongKerry Washington,Nikolaj Coster-WaldauOlivia ColmanOpal TometiSalma Hayek PinaultAntoni Porowski and more.

“Global Citizens around the world are calling for systemic change, change that brings about justice for everyone, everywhere, regardless of where they were born or the colour of their skin,” said Hugh Evans, co-founder and CEO of Global Citizen. “If we are to end COVID-19 for all, we need our world leaders to commit the billions of dollars needed to develop and equitably deliver testing, treatments and vaccines. Global Goal: Unite for Our Future – The Concertwill bring the centuries-old concept of music as a motivator for change and unity, together with science and data, to honour the problem solvers – including doctors, scientists, lab workers, essential workers and human rights advocates – who are racing to not only create the cure for COVID-19, but also to ensure that it’s available for everyone who needs it.”

The Concertwill air on broadcasters across the globe including ARD,Canal+ GroupRTVE in Europe, Bell Media, CBCCitytv, and Global TV, in Canada, NBC and iHeartMedia in the U.S.,Grupo Globo in Brazil, MultiChoice Group and SABC in Africa, Fuji TV and Star India in Asia, and Channel Nine in Australia. 

The Concert will also be streamed on global platforms. 

The virtual broadcast will celebrate innovators, scientists, health workers, activists and organizations working to develop and distribute COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines to everyone, everywhere who need them.

The Concertfollows Global Goal: Unite for Our Future—The Summit, a global pledging moment where world leaders, corporations and philanthropists will announce new commitments to help develop equitable distribution of COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines, as well as rebuild communities devastated by the pandemic. 

The Summit will feature panel discussions and interviews moderated by journalists Katie CouricMallika KapurMorgan RadfordIsha Sesay and Keir Simmons. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Miley Cyrus, Angelique Kidjo and Ken Jeong will join the conversation as well as experts including Brittany Packnett CunninghamMelinda GatesDr. Vin GuptaNAACP President Derrick Johnson, Executive Director of UN WomenPhumzile Mlambo-NgcukaEddie NdopuAbiola OkeKate Upton and Justin Verlander.

Jennifer Lopez to Present at This Year’s Golden Globes

Jennifer Lopezwill be taking the stage at this year’s Golden Globes

The 50-year-old Puerto Rican superstar, a nominee in the Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture category, has been added to the star-studded presenter lineup.

Jennifer Lopez

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced that J.LoElton JohnZoe KravitzLeonardo DiCaprioWill FerrellGwyneth PaltrowBrad PittPaul RuddJennifer AnistonCate BlanchettReese WitherspoonJason Momoaand more will also present at this weekend’s ceremony.

They join previously announced presenters Nick JonasAnsel ElgortDakota FanningCharlize TheronOctavia SpencerSofia VergaraKerry WashingtonTed Danson,Kate McKinnonTiffany HaddishDaniel CraigGlenn CloseChris EvansMargot RobbieScarlett JohanssonSalma HayekAmy PoehlerRami MalekTim Allenand Pierce Brosnan.

The 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Ricky Gervais, will air live from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 5 at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET on NBC.

Antonio Banderas to Receive International Star Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival

Antonio Banderas is a shining star… 

The 59-year-old Spanish actor will receive the 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival’s International Star Award, Actor for his performance in Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory

Antonio Banderas

“Throughout his career Antonio Banderas has garnered international acclaim and world recognition from his memorable performances,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In his latest film Pain and Glory, Antonio Banderas gives another deeply moving performance as aging film director Salvador Mallo going through a creative crisis as he reflects on the choice’s he’s made throughout his life.”

Past recipients of the International Star Award include Javier BardemNicole KidmanHelen Mirren, Gary Oldman and Saoirse Ronan

Banderas, who recently earned a Goya Award nomination for his performance in Pain and Glory, will join the previously announced honorees Jennifer Lopez (Spotlight Award), Joaquin Phoenix (Chairman’s Award), Martin Scorsese Sonny Bono Visionary Award), Charlize Theron( International Star Award, Actress) and Renée Zellweger(Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress).

From Sony Picture Classicsand presented by El DeseoPain and Glory tells of a series of reencounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered.

The award will be presented at the festival’s Film Awards Galaon Thursday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

The festival runs January 2-13, 2020.

Banderas’ next project is Dolittle