Bardem to Serve as a Presenter at This Year’s Academy Awards

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Javier Bardem has a date with Oscar…

The 47-year-old Spanish actor, who won an Academy Award for his role in No Country for Old Men, will serve as a presenter at the 89th Academy Awards on February 26.

In addition to Bardem, the latest list of presenters includes

Amy Adams, Riz Ahmed, John Cho, Dwayne Johnson, Felicity Jones, Leslie Mann, Janelle Monáe, David Oyelowo, Emma Stone and Charlize Theron, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Previously announced presenters include Halle Berry, Jamie Dornan, Chris Evans, Gael García Bernal, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Dakota Johnson, Shirley MacLaine, Kate McKinnon and Hailee Steinfeld.

Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. ABC will broadcast the ceremony live.

Luna’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” Breaks the $1 Billion Mark

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Luna is a Billion Dollar Man…

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, starring the 37-year-old Mexican actor, zoomed across the $1B threshold at the global box office on Saturday.

Saturday was the 39th day of release for the Gareth Edwards-helmed spinoff.

Rogue now becomes the lucky 13th Disney film to reach the $1B milestone and the 3rd Star Wars picture ever to do so. It’s also the Mouse’s 4th release of 2016 to hit those heights.

The current cume split is $512.2M domestic and $499.1M international for a global total of $1,011.3M through Sunday. In the standings, Rogue is the No. 1 release of 2016 domestically and the No. 7 of all time. Globally, it’s the No. 4 movie of 2016.

In another milestone, Rogue is the 7th movie ever to top $100M worldwide in IMAX with $101.3M to date.

The Felicity Jones-led tale of the heroic group that sacrifices everything to steal plans for the Death Star and set up Episode IV: A New Hope, has had its best performance to date in the UK ($79.4M), followed by China ($61.3M) and Germany ($44.8M).

Luna’s previous best box office performer was The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks. The film earned $219 million worldwide.

Focus Features to Release Bayona’s “A Monster Calls” in October

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like J.A. Bayona will have a Monster October…

Focus Features will release the 41-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s fantasy drama A Monster Calls on October 21, one week later than originally planned.

Written by Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls follows a boy who seeks the help of a tree monster so that he can cope with his single mother’s terminal disease. The monster tells him stories to help him cope with his life, though he has difficulty understanding the point of the bizarre tales. The boy doesn’t get along with his grandmother, which is unfortunate because he will have to live with her when his mother passes away.

Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Toby Kebbell, Lewis MacDougall and Liam Neeson star.

Bayona’s previous feature The Impossible played during awards season 2012 and focused on a family in peril during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Thailand.

Disney Unveils Trailer for Luna’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Luna is going Rogue…

Disney premiered the long-awaited trailer for its first Star Wars spinoff feature, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, starring the 36-year-old Mexican actor, on Good Morning America.

Directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue One takes place prior to 1977’s Star Wars and revolves around a gang of rebel spies who steal the Death Star plans, which are ultimately uploaded on R2-D2.

Details on the film have been tight, and the teaser comes as a big revelation of what’s to come. Apparently, neither Jedis nor the Force will appear in this movie, although there have been whispers about a Darth Vader cameo.

Oscar nominee Felicity Jones plays chief spy Jyn Erso, while Riz Ahmed and Luna portray resistance fighters assisting in the heist. Ben Mendelsohn portrays a dominant Imperial villain. Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen and Mads Mikkelsen also star. In addition, there’s a number of AT-ATs wreaking havoc on a tropical beach. But the cameo that has Star Wars fans giddy this morning is red-haired rebel leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), last seen in 1983’s Return of the Jedi and 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. She calls Jones’ Erso “reckless, aggressive and undisciplined”.

Chris Weitz and Gary Whitta wrote the Rogue One screenplay based on an idea by John Knoll. Similar to last year with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Christmas comes early with Rogue One opening on December 16. Force Awakens broke the domestic box office record with $247.97 million on its way to $2 billion worldwide.

The movie marks the first time that the Star Wars story has been told on the big screen outside the confines of its episodic structure.

Luna to Star in the “Star Wars” Standalone Film “Rogue One”

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

May the force be with Diego Luna…

Lucasfilm has announced the cast members and crew who will make up Star Wars’ standalone Rogue One, including the 35-year-old Mexican actor/director/producer, accompanied by the film’s first cast photo.

Directed by Gareth Edwards, the film focuses on resistance fighters who unite to steal plans to Death Star.

Along with Luna, who last starred in Elysium, cast members include Felicity Jones, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk and Riz Ahmed.

“Rogue One takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and will be a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the Star Wars universe,” producer Kathleen Kennedy said in a release. “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know.”

Rogue One is slated for a December 16, 2016 release.

Luna to Star in Next “Star Wars” Feature, “Star Wars: Rogue One”

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

May the force be with Diego Luna…

The 35-year-old Mexican actor, director and producer has landed a co-starring role in the next installment of the Star Wars feature series, Star Wars: Rogue One.

The film, which will also star Felicity Jones and Ben Mendelsohn, will be released by Disney in December.

Luna, who directed and produced Cesar Chavez, also was part of the cast of Milk, Elysium, The Terminal and Y Tu Mama Tambien.

No word yet on the role Luna will portray in the film.

Leto to Serve as a Presenter at This Year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

It’s another night with The Actor for Jared Leto…

The 43-year-old part-Spanish American actor, who picked up a SAG Award, also known as “The Actor,” last year for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club, will serve as a presenter at Sunday’s 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In addition to Leto, other presenters just added to the roster include Matthew Beard, Colin Farrell, Jeff Goldblum, Allen Leech, Lupita Nyong’o, Emmy Rossum, Andy Samberg, Liev Schreiber and Reese Witherspoon

They join previously announced Patricia Arquette, Adrien Brody, Ellar Coltrane, Kevin Costner, Laverne Cox, Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eric Dane, Viola Davis, Carrie Fisher, Ethan Hawke, SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard, Felicity Jones, Rashida Jones, Michael Keaton, Lenny Kravitz, Matthew McConaughey, Edward Norton, Eddie Redmayne, Julia Roberts, J.K. Simmons, and Emma Stone.

The SAG Awards will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS at 8:00 pm ET/ 5:00 pm PT.

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