Raúl Castillo Joins the Cast of HBO’s Mark Ruffalo-Led “Task Force Project” Series

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Raúl Castillo is joining the task force…

The 46-year-old Mexican American actor has joined the cast of HBO’s Mark Ruffalo-led series, the Untitled Brad Ingelsby Task Force Project (w/t), currently in pre-production.

Castillo is among a list of new cast additions that includes Jamie McShane and Sam Keeley.

Castillo plays Cliff, Robbie’s lifelong best friend and devout cynic; McShane plays Perry, a feared and respected man who’s made a career out of mayhem; Keeley plays Jayson, the leader of a local crime organization.

The series is set in the working-class suburbs outside of Philadelphia and follows an FBI agent who heads a Task Force. His goal is to put an end to a string of drug-house robberies led by an unsuspecting family man. The Untitled Task Force project is based on an original idea by the creator of Mare of Easttown, Brad Ingelsby.

The trio joins the previously announced cast including Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey and Emilia Jones.

Executive producers include Brad Ingelsby (Writer/EP); Jeremiah Zagar (Director/EP); Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Director/EP); Ruffalo (Star/EP); Paul Lee and Mark Roybal for wiip; David Crockett.

Castillo’s previous credits include Cassandro, The Inspection, Looking: The Movie, El Chicano and Knives Out.

Xolo Maridueña to Star in the Eif Rivera-Directed Film “Killing Castro”

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Xolo Maridueña is killin’ it in Hollywood…

The 22-year-old Mexican, Cuban and Ecuadorian American actor and Blue Beetle star will star in the film Killing Castro.

Eif Rivera will direct the film from a script by Leon Hendrix, Thomas DeGrezia and Colin Bateman. This will be Rivera’s first feature film.

In addition to Maridueña, who rose to acclaim in Cobra Kai, will star alongside

Al Pacino, Mexican superstar Diego Boneta, KiKi Layne, Alexander Ludwig, Ron Livingston, Kendrick Sampson, Nicole Beharie, Logan Marshall Green and Titus Welliver in the film.

Based on true events, the film is set in 1960. Shortly after winning the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro travels to New York City to deliver his first speech to the United Nations. When met with hostility at his original hotel, Castro meets Malcolm X who invites him to stay at famed Hotel Theresa in Harlem. With the eyes of the world watching, a rookie undercover FBI agent originally assigned to investigate Malcolm X suddenly becomes the FBI’s most valuable asset, and is tasked with keeping Castro from being eliminated by the CIA and the Italian mafia, by any means necessary.

Killing Castro will be produced by Romulus Entertainment’s Brad Feinstein, along with Christina Weiss Lurie of Fourth and Twenty-Eight Films. Romulus will also finance. Principal photography will take place in Newark, NJ.

“I am honored to be part of telling such an important story that is a piece of history which was largely unknown,” said Feinstein. “Killing Castro perfectly encapsulates the type of stories we strive to tell at Romulus Entertainment, stories that do more than entertain audiences, but create thought-provoking diverse content that bring to light the complexities of real life. We are looking forward to working with the incredible cast led by the inimitable Eif Rivera.”

Rivera is known for directing BMF, and TV shows including Force and Power Book III: Raising Kanan.

“I am excited to bring to life this compelling true story with the help of my remarkable cast and formidable producing team at Romulus Entertainment,” Rivera said.

Netflix Releases Trailer for Jennifer Lopez’s Action Film “The Mother”

Posted on April 11, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Jennifer Lopez is mothering…

“Where’s my baby?” says the 53-year-old Puerto Rican superstar’s character, known only as The Mother, in the first trailer for Netflix‘s forthcoming action film of the same name, which is set for a Mother’s Day weekend debut on May 12th.

“You wasted FBI time trying to cut a deal for yourself, and seven agents were killed. This conversation now takes place on our terms,” an FBI official played by Edie Falco tells her. “Adrian Lovell and Hector Álvarez are still out there. You and I both know the only way you protect that child is to disappear.”

And disappear, the former assassin does. “You put her with good people, keep her safe,” Lopez tells a trusted character played by Omari Hardwick. “If there’s trouble, you let me know.” Of course, trouble comes for her around 12 years later, as villains played by Joseph Fiennes and Gael García Bernal have her daughter (Lucy Paez) kidnapped, with Lopez being forced to come out of hiding to save this girl to whom she’s now a total stranger.

“I’m a killer, but I’m also a mother,” says Lopez. “And I will die protecting her.”

Niki Caro directed the film, also starring Paul Raci, Jesse Garcia, Yvonne Senat Jones and more, from a script by Misha Green, Andrea Berloff and Peter Craig.

Lopez most recently led the rom-coms Shotgun Wedding and Marry Me for Lionsgate/Amazon and Universal Pictures, respectively. She’ll next be seen in Netflix’s sci-fi thriller Atlas with Simu Liu, Sterlking K. Brown and more, and recently signed on to star in the Amazon drama Unstoppable from Artists Equity, the new production company of Matt Damon and her husband Ben Affleck.

Yul Vazquez to Star in MGM+’s Crime Thriller “Hotel Cocaine”

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Yul Vazquez is checking into his next project…

The 58-year-old Cuban-American actor and musician is set as a lead opposite Danny Pino and Michael Chiklis in Hotel Cocaine, MGM+’s upcoming crime thriller from creator Chris Brancato.

Hotel Cocaine is the story of Roman Compte (Pino), a Cuban expatriate who fought against Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion and re-made his life in Miami. He is general manager of the Mutiny Hotel, the glamorous epicenter of the Miami cocaine scene of late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The Mutiny Hotel was Casablanca on cocaine, a glitzy nightclub, restaurant and hotel frequented by Florida businessmen and politicians, international narcos, CIA and FBI agents, models, sports stars and musicians.

Vazquez will play Nestor Cabal, Roman Compte’s (Pino) brother and one of the biggest suppliers of cocaine to a coke-hungry Miami population. He’s dangerous, funny, wily, and seeking reunion with his long-lost brother.

Chiklis plays Agent Zulio who will stop at nothing to shut down the drug trade, even if it means using innocent civilians to accomplish his ends.

The eight-episode series from MGM+ Studios, in partnership with MGM Television, will begin production in May in the Dominican Republic, and is slated to premiere in early 2024.

Vazquez will next be seen in the HBO Max limited series White House Plumbers, opposite Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux. He was most recently seen on season 3 of the MGM+ series Godfather of Harlem opposite Forest Whitaker and in the Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ series, Severance, directed by Ben Stiller.

His other credits include Jason Bateman’s HBO series The Outsider, ABC’s Promised Land, Netflix’s Russian Doll, TNT miniseries I Am The Night and HBO’s Succession, among others.

His film work includes Books of Blood, Last Flag Flying, Gringo, Traffic and The Infiltrator.

Danny Pino Lands Leading Role in MGM+’s Crime Thriller “Hotel Cocaine”

Posted on March 15, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Danny Pino is checking in to a new project…

The 48-year-old Cuban American actor, who stars in Mayans M.C., will star as the lead in Hotel Cocaine, MGM+’s upcoming crime thriller from creator Chris Brancato.

Hotel Cocaine is the story of Roman Compte (Pino), a Cuban expatriate who fought against Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion and re-made his life in Miami. He is general manager of the Mutiny Hotel, the glamorous epicenter of the Miami cocaine scene of late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The Mutiny Hotel was Casablanca on cocaine, a glitzy nightclub, restaurant and hotel frequented by Florida businessmen and politicians, international narcos, CIA and FBI agents, models, sports stars and musicians. At the center of it all was Compte, who was doing his best to keep it all going and fulfill his own American dream.

Brancato serves as executive producer and showrunner. Guillermo Navarro will direct the pilot episode and executive produce the series, with Michael Panes and Alfredo Barrios Jr. also serving as executive producers. The eight-episode series from MGM+ Studios, in partnership with MGM Television, will begin production in May in the Dominican Republic, and is slated to premiere in early 2024.

Pino, born and raised in Miami, stars as organized crime boss Miguel Galindo in Mayans M.C., which is heading into its fifth and final season on FX.

He made his episodic directorial debut in the drama’s fourth season. Pino, also known for his roles as police detective Nick Amaro on Law & Order: SVU and Detective Scotty Valens on Cold Case, recently completed the short film, Union de Reyes (Union of Kings), which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in.

Hotel Cocaine will be distributed internationally by MGM.

Marc Menchaca to Star in Apple TV+’s Limited Series “The Big Cigar”

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Marc Menchaca is going undercover…

The 46-year-old half-Mexican American actor has joined the cast of Apple TV+’s six-episode limited series The Big Cigar, which is centered on Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton.

Menchaca, who most recently starred on Netflix’s Ozark, will star alongside André Holland, Don Cheadle, Alessandro Nivola and Tiffany Boone in the project.

Based on the eponymous Playboy magazine article by Joshuah Bearman, the series tells the extraordinary, hilarious, almost-too-good-to-be-true story of how Newton relied on his best friend, Bert Schneider (Nivola), the Hollywood producer behind Easy Rider, to elude a nationwide manhunt and escape to Cuba while being pursued into exile by the FBI.

Menchaca will portray Agent Sydney Clark. A former lawyer and Vietnam vet from Oklahoma, Clark lives undercover as a dirty hippie while pursuing Newton, who is wanted on charges of killing a teenage prostitute.

NAACP Image Award winner Janine Sherman Barrois is serving as The Big Cigar‘s showrunner. Jim Hecht wrote the show’s first episode, with Cheadle directing and executive producing the first two.

The show hails from Warner Bros. Television, where Barrois and her Folding Chair Productions are under an overall deal. Barrois and Hecht are executive producing alongside Bearman, Joshua Davis and Arthur Spector through their production company Epic, a division of Vox Media Studios.

Menchaca is best known for his scene-stealing turns as Jack Hoskins on HBO’s hit series The Outsider, and as Russ Langmore on the Emmy-winning Netflix drama series Ozark.

He will next be seen in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, HBO’s miniseries The White House Plumbers, John Hyams’ thriller Sick and Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi pic True Love for New Regency.

His additional television credits include Black Mirror, Homeland, MacGyver, Blue Bloods, Chicago P.D., Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, Law & Order: SVU, CSI and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Úrsula Corberó to Star Opposite Kevin Hart in Netflix’s “Lift”

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Úrsula Corberó’s career is getting a Lift…

The 32-year-old Spanish actress and model, who rose to acclaim on Netflix’s The Money Heist, will star in Kevin Hart’s Netflix-film “Lift.”

Corberó is among a stellar cast that includes Sam Worthington, Burn Gorman, Jean Reno and Jacob Batalon.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Billy Magnussen, Yun Jee Kim, Viveik Kalra and Paul Anderson are also on board.

Gary Gray will direct the film, with Dan Kunka and Jeremy Doner penning the script. Netflix landed the package last year.

Hart will play a master thief who is wooed by his ex-girlfriend and the FBI to pull off an impossible heist with his international crew on a 777 flying from London to Zurich.

Lift falls under Hart and HartBeat Productions’ creative partnership with Netflix.

John Leguizamo to Star in Paramount+’s Series “American Tragedies: Waco – The Trials”

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

John Leguizamo is going back on trials…

The 61-year-old Colombian actor will star in American Tragedies: Waco – The Trials, Paramount+’s follow up to the 2018 miniseries.

Leguizamo will reprise his role in the new series.

David Costabile and J. Smith Cameron are among the stars joining the series. Giovanni Ribisi, John Hoogenakker, Keean Johnson and Abbey Lee also star.

Paramount Network’s Waco, fronted by Taylor Kitsch, explored the events in February 1993 in Mount Carmel, a small religious community when a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) on David Koresh and his followers, known as the Branch Davidians, led to a massive standoff and the death of dozens.

American Tragedies: Waco – The Trials will explore the wide-ranging fallout following these events and the uneven scales of justice the surviving Branch Davidians faced.

It will also delve into how the horrific events fueled the emerging ‘Patriot’ movement, which ultimately led to the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history – the Oklahoma City bombing.

Leguizamo will reprise his role as Jacob Vasquez, an ATF agent who worked undercover during the lead up to Waco.

Michael Shannon, an exec producer on the series, will also reprise his role as Gary Noesner, an FBI hostage negotiator who has PTSD from the failed negotiations with the Branch Davidians in Waco.

The series comes from creators, exec producers and showrunners Drew and John Erick Dowdle. It is designed to air in 2023 to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the tragic events in Texas.

Produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios exec producers also include Andrew Gettens and Lauren Mackenzie, who will also write, David C. Glasser, David Hutkin, Bob Yari and Ron Burkle.

Felix Solis to Star Opposite Niecy Nash in ABC’s Proposed “The Rookie” Spinoff

Posted on March 9, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Felix Solis is reporting for duty…

The 50-year-old Puerto Rican actor will star opposite Niecy Nash in ABC’s proposed spinoff from The Rookie.

Solis will guest star alongside Kat Foster in a two-episode arc in the current fourth season of The Rookie, which will serve as a backdoor pilot for the potential spinoff of the series starring Nathan Fillion.

The yet-untitled project will expand beyond the current Los Angeles Police Department and revolve around the FBI.

The potential new series comes from The Rookie creator/executive producer Alexi Hawley, executive producers Terence Paul Winter and Mark Gordon and studios eOne and ABC Signature.

The planted spinoff, co-created and written by Hawley and Winter, follows the premise of The Rookie, which stars Fillion as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the LAPD.

In the two embedded pilot episodes, Officer John Nolan (Fillion) and the LA division of the FBI enlist the help of FBI trainee Simone Clark (Nash) when one of her former students is suspected of terrorism following an explosion at a local power station.

Solis will play Special Agent Matthew Garza, a 20-year veteran of the FBI who has been a true believer in the “Agency way” his whole career. A senior agent on the cusp of being promoted to a leadership role, Garza is tough, smart and filled with a little too much self-importance.

The Rookie and the spinoff will exist in the same universe, allowing characters to move back and forth.

Solis was most recently seen as Omar Navarro in Netflix’s Ozark and in the recurring role of Ray Vera in Charmed.

Paloma Guzman to Recur on Starz’s “Power Book III: Raising Kanan”

Posted on February 25, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Paloma Guzman has (power) booked a new project…

The Latina actress has landed a heavily recurring role in the Starz/Lionsgate Power prequel series, Power Book III: Raising Kanan.

From creator and showrunner Sascha Penn, Power Book III: Raising Kanan takes viewers back to the ’90s and the early years of the now-deceased Kanan Stark, portrayed in Courtney Kemp’s original series by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Guzman will play Detective Regina Foyle, a veteran NYPD detective with a sensitive yet rugged side. She’s a contradiction in all the best ways.

Power Book III: Raising Kanan is executive produced by Kemp through her company End of Episode and Jackson through his G-Unit Film and Television.

Penn is the creator/showrunner of Raising Kanan. Lionsgate Television produces the series for Starz.

Known for her role as Jacki Molina in Pretty Little Liars, Guzman recently wrapped filming a major recurring role on the upcoming season of Roswell, New Mexico.

Her previous credits include a recurring role on the final season of HBO’s The Deuce, as well as roles on Law & Order: SVU, FBI, Shades of Blue, among others.

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