Jenna Ortega to Appear on This Season’s “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors”

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Jenna Ortega is talkin’ shop with a fellow former child star…

Variety’s Actors on Actors series returns featuring the biggest stars in this year’s Television Emmys race for Season 18, including the 20-year-old Puerto Rican & Mexican American actress.

Ortega, who stars in Netflix’s acclaimed series Wednesday, will sit down with The Great actress Elle Fanning for their segment.

But Ortega isn’t the only Latinx artist to participate this season…

Pedro Pascal, the star of HBO’s The Last of Use, will sit down with Steven Yeun, who stars in Netflix’s Beef.

Meanwhile, in a Star Wars themed conversation, Diego Luna, the star of Andor, will appear opposite opposite Hayden Christensen of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The four episodes will debut on PBS SoCal on Thursday, June 15th starting at 8:00 pm, followed by encores on KCET and public television stations across the country and the WORLD Channel (check local listings). All episodes will stream on pbssocal.org and the free PBS App following their premieres.

Variety’s Actors on Actors issue will hit newsstands on June 7th and the conversations will start airing on Tuesday, June 6th on Variety.com and its social media channels.

This year’s “Actors on Actors” lineup includes:

Katherine Heigl (“Firefly Lane”) with Ellen Pompeo (“Grey’s Anatomy”)
Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”) with Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”)
Ali Wong (“Beef”) with Jason Segel (“Shrinking”)
Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”) with Elle Fanning (“The Great”)
Kieran Culkin (“Succession”) with Claire Danes (“Fleishman Is in Trouble”)
Melanie Lynskey (“Yellowjackets”) with Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face”)
Brett Goldstein (“Ted Lasso”) with Theo James (“The White Lotus”)
Steven Yeun (“Beef”) with Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”)
Diego Luna (“Andor”) with Hayden Christensen (“Obi-Wan Kenobi”)
Meghann Fahy (“The White Lotus”) with Elizabeth Olsen (“Love and Death”)
Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”) with Jennifer Garner (“The Last Thing He Told Me”)
Brian Cox (“Succession”) with Emily Blunt (“The English”)
Rachel Weisz (“Dead Ringers”) with Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”)

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2019, as well as the Los Angeles Area Emmy Award for best entertainment programming in 2015 and 2016.

The series is produced by PBS SoCal in partnership with Variety Media, LLC.

Zetna Fuentes Among Directors for Hulu’s “The Girl From Plainville”

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Zetna Fuentes is headed to Plainville…

The Emmy-nominated Latina director will direct two episodes of Hulu’s limited series The Girl From Plainville, starring Elle Fanning, Colton Ryan, Chloë Sevigny and Norbert Leo Butz.

Fuentes joins a roster of directors for the project that includes series co-creator Liz Hannah, Pippa Bianco and Lisa Cholodenko.

The series hails from Hannah and Dr. Death exec producer Patrick Macmanus and UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Written by Hannah and Macmanus and produced by UCP, The Girl From Plainville stars Fanning as Michelle Carter and is inspired by the true story of her controversial “texting suicide” case. Based off the Esquire article by Jesse Barron, the limited series will explore Carter’s relationship with Conrad “Coco” Roy III (Ryan) and the events that led to his death and, later, her controversial conviction of involuntary manslaughter.

Fuentes is an NAACP Image Award and three-time Daytime Emmy nominated television and theater director.

Salma Hayek to Star in Sally Potter’s Latest, Still-Untitled Film

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Salma Hayek is embracing the drama…

The 52-year-old Mexican actress has joined the impressive cast for The Party and Orlando writer-director Sally Potter’s latest film.

In addition to the Frida star, the cast for the untitled drama includes Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Chris Rock and Laura Linney.

Production is underway in Spain on the feature; it will also shoot on location in New York in January.

The untitled drama follows 24 turbulent hours in the life of father and daughter Leo (Bardem) and Molly (Fanning) as she grapples with the challenges of dealing with her father’s apparently chaotic mental state. As they weave their way around New York City, their ordinary but stressful day takes on a hallucinatory and epic quality as Leo is flowing in and out of several parallel lives; a passionate marriage with his childhood sweetheart Dolores (Hayek) in Mexico; a struggling career as a drummer in Manhattan with his more successful lover, Adam (Rock); and a life of solitude on a remote Greek island, where a chance encounter with two young tourists unmasks some uncomfortable truths.

HanWay Films Vice Chairman Peter Watson commented, “We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with Sally Potter and to help her realise this mesmerising story of one man’s life distilled into a day in New York. We’re also particularly excited to be partnering under a worldwide deal with our colleagues at Bleecker Street who share our taste in cinema.”

Prieto to Make Feature Directorial Debut with the Revenge Thriller “Bastard”

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Rodrigo Prieto is stepping into the director’s chair…

The 51-year-old Mexican cinematographer, who has worked on films such as Martin Scorcese’s Silence and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, will make his directorial debut with the revenge thriller Bastard.

Based on an original script penned by Bill Gullo, Bastard is a taut revenge thriller with a riveting antagonist at its core, set against a looming flood that will ravage the small town of Bird’s Point, Missouri.

A Mexico-City native, Prieto started his career shooting television commercials at the age of 22 before moving into features in 1992. He broke out into the film scene with his work on Amores Perros, which kicked off his collaboration with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Prieto boasts a top-notch list of film credits including Julie Taymor’s Frida; Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile; Spike Lee’s 25th Hour; Iñárritu’s 21 Grams and Babel; Oliver Stone’s Alexander; Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play; Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces; Francis Laurence’s Water for Elephants; Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo; Lee’s Brokeback Mountain; Ben Affleck’s Argo; and a clutch of Scorcese titles.

He’s most recently worked on HBO series Vinyl and Silence, the latter of which saw him earn an Oscar nomination.

Prieto directed his first short film Likeness, starring Elle Fanning, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Production is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2018.

Miguel to Star in the Prohibition-Era Crime Drama “Live By Night”

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Miguel is heading into the night…

The 30-year-old part-Mexican American Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has joined the cast of Live By Night, Warner Bros.’ Prohibition-era crime drama based on the Dennis Lehane novel that Ben Affleck is starring in, writing and directing.

Live By Night uses some of the characters from Lehane’s sprawling period novel The Given Day and brings them into Prohibition.

The focus is Joe Coughlin (Affleck), the black-sheep son of a police captain who gets involved in escalating levels of organized crime. Sienna Miller, Elle Fanning, Chris Messina and Zoe Saldana are among those already aboard.

Miguel will play Esteban, the brother of Saldana’s character, Graciella Suarez, a woman Coughlin meets as he becomes involved in organized crime in Tampa.

Affleck temporarily has put aside plans for Live By Night to play the Caped Crusader in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. (The studio currently has it undated 2017 after bowing out of a October 7, 2016, release slot). Affleck also is producing through his Pearl Street, along with Appian Way’s Jennifer Killoran Davisson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Miguel is next up as a featured performer on Shining A Light: A Concert For Progress On Race In America, the A+E Networks–iHeartMedia special to air November 20 followed by a worldwide rollout. It will be recorded at LA’s Shrine Auditorium on November 18.

Earlier this year he was in negotiations to star in an untitled musical romantic drama from John Legend’s Get Lifted Film Co., Furst Films and IM Global.

Arteta to Direct Elle Fanning in “All The Bright Places”

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Things are looking bright for Miguel Arteta…

The 49-year-old Puerto Rican filmmaker is set to direct the film adaptation of the Jennifer Niven Young Adult novel All The Bright Places.

From the Demarest Media and The Mazur/Kaplan Company, the film will star Elle Fanning.

Scripted by Niven, the film centers on a young girl (Fanning) who learns to live from a boy who intends to die. Random House Children’s Books/Knope Books For Young Readers published the book earlier this year and it is on the bestseller list.

Arteta, who received the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for the 2000 independent film Chuck & Buck, most recently directed Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day.

His credits include Cedar Rapids and Youth In Revolt.

Luna to Star Opposite Elle Fanning in the Sci-Fi Film “IO”

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Luna has landed an out of this world role…

The 35-year-old Mexican actor has been cast opposite Elle Fanning in Clay Jeter’s sci-fi pic IO, a project that was developed at the Sundance Institute’s Writers Lab and Sundance Catalyst Forum.

Jeter, who made the 2011 Sundance Film Festival pic Jess + Moss, wrote the script with Will Basanta and Charles Spano.

The character-driven IO, which is slated to begin production later this year, tells the story of a girl’s coming of age while examining the dangers of humanity’s current relationship with the planet.

Fanning will play the teen surviving as one of the last people on an abandoned post-cataclysmic Earth, who is racing to find a cure for her poisoned home world before the last shuttle off the planet to the distant human space colony leaves her stranded.

Luna, who rose to acclaim after starring in Y tu mamá también, will play a complicated and mysterious refugee on his way to the shuttle launch who makes her question whether she can really alter Earth’s fate.

“We are so excited for Elle to bring her charisma and fearlessness to the demanding role of the tragically obsessed idealist Sam,” said Jeter. “And Diego’s chameleon-like versatility makes him a perfect choice for the secretive and enigmatic Micah. I’m really looking forward to a creative collaboration with these incredibly talented and committed actors to bring the characters of IO to life.”

Luna’s film credits include roles in Rudo y Cursi, The Terminal, Elysium and Milk.

Saldaña to Star Opposite Ben Affleck in “Live by Night”

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Zoë Saldaña is ready to live by night…

The 36-year-old half-Dominican/half-Puerto Rican American actress has been tapped to star in Live by Night, the film adaptation of Dennis Lehane‘s crime novel.

Ben Affleck is directing, scripting, producing and starring in the film, which will also feature Sienna Miller and Elle Fanning.

Live by Night follows Joe Coughlin (Affleck) who gets involved in escalating levels of organized crime. Miller will play his mob boss’ girlfriend whom he falls in love with. Saldaña portrays Graciella Suarez, a woman Coughlin meets later as he’s climbing the organized crime ladder. Fanning plays a sheriff’s daughter who gets into trouble.

The movie was originally set by Warner Bros. for a December 25, 2015 release, but has been shifted to October, 7, 2016 as Affleck is busy filming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for the studio.

After her major role in the blockbuster hit Guardians of the Galaxy and a starring role in NBC’s Rosemary’s Baby remake, Saldaña is taking a break from acting roles while she’s expecting her first child with beau Marco Perego.

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