Alfonso Cuarón Reportedly Working on Horror Television Series

Posted on October 19, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Alfonso Cuarón is ready to bring the drama to television…

The 55-year-old Mexican filmmaker is reportedly working with Anonymous Content on a drama series, which is being pitched to pay cable and streaming outlets, garnering interest from multiple networks, according to Deadline.com.

Cuarón would work with actor Casey Affleck on the project.

Details about the project are being kept under wraps, but it is rumored to be a horror genre series that tracks the origins of a cult.

Cuarón is writing, directing and executive producing; Affleck is starring and executive producing. Anonymous Content, which signed Cuarón earlier this year, is producing.

Cuarón, who won the Best Director Oscar for directing Gravity, has a diverse feature resume that also includes Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

His next movie, Roma, is slated for release next year.

On the television side, Cuarón previously co-created and executive produced the NBC drama series Believe.

Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” Wins Top Prize at the Venice Film Festival

Posted on September 10, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Guillermo del Toro has reason to roar…

The 52-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s lyrical period fairy tale, The Shape of Water, was awarded the top prize Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

del Toro’s fantasy premiered on the Lido last week early in the proceedings, and left viewers swooning in its wake. It was among the best-reviewed films of the festival, and had one of the most emotional gala screenings in memory.

When the Lion was announced tonight, the press room positively erupted with joy.

The Shape Of Water, a Cold War-set parable that stars Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer and Michael Shannon, represents del Toro’s first time in competition in Venice.

The prize, he noted, is the first time a Mexican helmer has won the Golden Lion.

From the stage, the filmmaker said, “I’m 52 years old, I weigh 300 pounds, and I’ve done 10 movies. There is a moment in every storyteller’s life, no matter what age you are, you risk it all and go and do something different.”

Added the teary del Toro, “To every Latin American filmmaker dreaming of doing something in the fantastic genre, it can be done.”

He said he intends to call the statue the “Sergio Leone” and remarked how full the Sala Grande was of the things he believes in, “Life, love and cinema.” That echoed something he’d said earlier in the week of the film, which mixes fantasy, romance, thriller, and old-style Hollywood: it’s a movie that’s “in love with love and in love with cinema.”

Shape took 10 years of struggle for del Toro to get made, and he’s said it was the hardest shoot he’s ever had.

With his Venice appearance, del Toro completed, in a way, a circle begun by his compatriots and pals Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro G Inarritu, whose Gravity and Birdman, respectively, made big splashes in recent years on this island before going on to Oscar glory. The Shape Of Water is a movie we will be talking about all through awards season.

Backstage, del Toro spoke to the press and was asked about the significance of the win for genre movies. “It means a lot,” he said pointing to parables that are “artistic, beautiful, politically charged movies.” It’s about time, he said, that “we understand every vernacular in cinema done with intelligence and passion is valid.”

Here’s a look at the overall winners:

VENICE 74

Golden Lion
The Shape Of Water, dir: Guillermo del Toro

Grand Jury Prize
Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz

Silver Lion, Best Director
Xavier Legrand, Jusqu’à La Garde

Volpi Cup, Best Actress
Charlotte Rampling, Hannah

Volpi Cup, Best Actor
Kamel El Basha, The Insult

Best Screenplay
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Special Jury Prize
Sweet Country, dir: Warwick Thornton

Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Charlie Plummer, Lean On Pete

VENICE HORIZONS

Best Film
Nico, 1988, dir: Susanna Nicchiarelli

Best Director
Vahid Jalilvand, No Date, No Signature

Special Jury Prize
Caniba, dirs: Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel

Best Actress
Lyna Khoudri, Les Bienheureux

Best Actor
Navid Mohammadzadeh, No Date, No Signature

Best Screenplay
Los Versos Del Olvido, dir: Alireza Khatami

Best Short Film
Gros Chagrin, dir: Céline Devaux

Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film
Jusqu’à La Garde, dir: Xavier Legrand

VENICE CLASSICS

Best Restoration
Idi I Smotri, dir: Elem Klimov

Best Documentary on Cinema
The Prince And The Dybbuk, dirs: Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski

VENICE VIRTUAL REALITY

Best VR
Arden’s Wake (Expanded), dir: Eugene YK Chung

Best VR Experience
La Camera Insabbiata, dirs: Laurie Anderson, Hsin-Chien Huang

Best VR Story
Bloodless, dir: Gina Kim

Cuarón Working with Participant Media on His Next Feature Film

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Alfonso Cuarón is readying his next project…

The 54-year-old Mexican filmmaker is teaming with Participant Media on his next feature film, an untitled project he’s writing and directing.

The movie will chronicle a year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s, and production is slated to begin in Mexico this fall.

It’ll be the Oscar winner’s first movie shot there since his breakout 2001 hit Y Tu Mamá También.

Cuarón won the Best Director Oscar for his last film Gravity, which was nominated for seven Oscars in 2014 including Best Picture and won seven.

A Band of Bitches Releases Desierto-Inspired Single “El Diablo Güero,” feat. Victoria Morales

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

A Band of Bitches is getting political…

The masked Mexican alternative group has released the single “El Diablo Güero,” a pro-immigrant, anti-Donald Trump song, featuring singer/songwriter and studio owner Victoria Morales.

The funky pop-punk track was recorded to coincide with the current run in Mexican theaters of director Jonas Cuaron’s “migrant thriller,” Desierto, which will be the closing film at this year’s LA Film Festival.

The film, about Mexican workers trying to cross the border to the United States who are pursued in the desert by a murderous American vigilante (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). It stars Gael Garcia Bernal, well-known to American viewers from the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle.

Morales wrote the bilingual song inspired by the film with Latin Grammy-nominated A Band of Bitches’ member Ushka at Cuaron’s request. “El Diablo Güero” is not, however, part of the film’s original soundtrack, whose layers of ominous and sublime music were composed by Woodkid.

“[Cuaron] sort of felt the need for [another] song that could really capture the entire film,” Morales told Billboard. “El Diablo Güero” was written and recorded in a few days, with production supervised by Cuaron at Morales’ Victoria Records Studio in Monterrey.

A Band of Bitches announced the debut of the new track alongside Cuaron and Morales at the Vive Latino festival in Mexico City; it was released to Mexican radio during the second week after the film premiered in theaters in April. The movie is still playing in Mexico.

The track samples lines from the film that Morales says had the most impact on her, particularly the words “welcome to the land of the free” spoken during one chilling scene.

Although journalists in Mexico have pointed out that the title could be a reference to Trump and his statements about Mexican immigrants, Morales maintains that it was the film’s American killer who inspired the song.

“In the end everyone is going to hear what they want to hear and make their own interpretation,” Morales says. “I think that it could become sort of an anthem, because of the relation of what’s happening in the United States and with the elections.”

Desierto is set for a commercial run on the U.S. sometime before the elections. A trailer for the film used an audio clip of Trump’s infamous Mexican “rapists” comment.

Cuaron, the son of Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity), will next write and direct the Zorro sequel Z, also starring Garcia Bernal.

Cuarón to Write and Direct a New Take on “Zorro”

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Jonás Cuarón is bringing a fictional Latino hero back to life…

The 34-year-old Mexican filmmaker and screenwriter and son of Alfonso Cuarón has been tapped to write and direct a new take on Zorro.

The film, titled Z, will be produced by Lantica Media and Sobini Films, and principal photography is set to start in the summer at Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios.

Cuarón co-penned Gravity with his father. He recently wrote directed the Toronto International Film Festival film Desierto, which won the Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for Special Presentations.

Lantica will finance, and Pantelion Films will handle international sales. The title will be up for grabs European Film Market in Berlin this month.

Isaac Earns First Acting Critics’ Choice Awards Nomination

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar Isaac is getting a heroes reception…

The 36-year-old Guatemalan and Cuban American actor is among the Latino talents earning a Critics’ Choice Awards nomination.

Isaac earned his nod in the Actor in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series for his performance in the HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero. It’s his first nomination in an acting category. He previously was nominated in the Song category for co-penning “Please Mr. Kennedy” for the film Inside Llewyn Davis with Adam Driver and Justin Timberlake.

Gina Rodriguez, who earned a Golden Globe earlier this year, picked up her second consecutive nomination in the Actress in a Comedy Series category for her starring role in The CW’s Jane the Virgin.

Rodriguez’s Jane the Virgin co-star Jamie Camil picked up his second nod in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category for his role as Rodriguez’s onscreen father. He’ll face off against Mel Rodriguez, who received his nomination for his performance on HBO’s Getting On.

In the film section, Alejandro González Iñárritu earned a nod in the Director category for helming the western drama/thriller The Revenant, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The Mexican filmmaker was nominated last year in the same category for directing Birdman. He lost in that category, but took home the Screenplay trophy for the same film.

Meanwhile, the film’s lenser Emmanuel Lubezki received a nom in the Cinematography category. He’s the two-time reigning champion in the category after winning for his work on Gravity in 2014 and Birdman in 2015. He also won the prize in 2012 for The Tree of Life.

Paco Delgado picked up a nod in the Costume Design category for his work on The Danish Girl. He previously was nominated in 2013 for his work on Les Misérables.

Hosted by T.J. Miller, the awards show will be held on January 17 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. It will air simultaneously on A&E, Lifetime and LMN.

Here are the categories featuring Latino nominees for the 21st annual Critics’ Choice Awards:

MOVIE

DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes – Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu – The Revenant
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott – The Martian
Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Carol – Ed Lachman
The Hateful Eight – Robert Richardson
Mad Max: Fury Road – John Seale
The Martian – Dariusz Wolski
The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario – Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN
Brooklyn – Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol – Sandy Powell
Cinderella – Sandy Powell
The Danish Girl – Paco Delgado
Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Assassin
Goodnight Mommy
Mustang
The Second Mother
Son of Saul

TELEVISION

ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
Wes Bentley – American Horror Story: Hotel – FX
Martin Clunes – Arthur & George – PBS
Idris Elba – Luther – BBC America
Oscar Isaac – Show Me a Hero – HBO
Vincent Kartheiser – Saints & Strangers – National Geographic Channel
Patrick Wilson – Fargo – FX

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Rachel Bloom – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – The CW
Aya Cash – You’re the Worst – FXX
Wendi McLendon-Covey – The Goldbergs – ABC
Gina Rodriguez – Jane the Virgin – The CW
Tracee Ellis Ross – Black-ish – ABC
Constance Wu – Fresh Off the Boat – ABC

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Andre Braugher – Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Fox
Jaime Camil – Jane the Virgin – The CW
Jay Duplass – Transparent – Amazon
Neil Flynn – The Middle – ABC
Keegan-Michael Key – Playing House – USA
Mel Rodriguez – Getting On – HBO

Cuaron’s Spanish-Language Drama “Desierto” Lands at STX Entertainment

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like Jonás Cuarón latest film will make its way north of the U.S.-Mexico border…

The 34-year-old Mexican film director and screenwriter’s latest project Desierto has landed at STX Entertainment.

The Spanish-language film centers on a group of immigrants trying to cross the border from Mexico into the United States when they encounter a man who has taken up border patrol duties in his own racist hands.

Desierto, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, won the Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for Special Presentations at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Cuarón, the son of Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter Alfonso Cuarón, co-wrote his father’s Oscar-winning film Gravity.

STX Entertainment’s deal is for Desierto’s North American rights.

Luna Launches Branded Entertainment Studio, Gloria

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

It’s all guts and Gloria for Diego Luna…

The 35-year-old Mexican actor/director/producer and his business partners Pablo Cruz and Eric Bonniot have officially launched the branded entertainment studio, Gloria.

Luna and Cruz, along with Gael Garcia Bernal, are also co-founders of the Mexican production and distribution company Canana.

Based in Los Angeles and Mexico City, Gloria is working on projects in both English- and Spanish-speaking markets.

“The Latino community is hugely influential and we want to work with brands to tell stories that are relevant and real,” said Luna, who was recently cast in Star Wars: Rogue One.

Gloria’s upcoming projects include a feature-length branded documentary and it is currently in production on a six-part web series for Mexico’s largest department store chain.

Among the talent working with Gloria are Gravity co-writer Jonas Cuaron and Alonso Ruizpalacios, the award-winning director of Gueros.

As for Luna, has had a busy year so far. Along with being cast in Star Wars: Rogue One, he directed the Danny Glover–Maya Rudolph road movie Mr. Pig.

Cuarón to Preside Over the International Jury at This Year’s Venice Film Festival

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Alfonso Cuarón is ready to chair, and chair alike…

The 53-year-old Mexican director and Oscar-winner will chair the International Jury for the Competition at the 72nd Venice Film Festival in September.

The appointment by the board of directors comes two years after Cuarón’s Gravity opened the festival out of competition and one year after his friend Alejandro G. Inarritu raised the curtain with Birdman.

Both men went on to win the directing Academy Award (among others) for their respective films.

Two of Cuarón’s other Oscar nominated films have also premiered on the Lido: 2001’s Y Tu Mamà También and 2006’s Children Of Men. The former won the Osella Award for Best Screenplay and the Marcello Mastroianni Award (for stars Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna).

Children Of Men later won the Osella Award for Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography.

The Venice Film Festival runs from September 2-12.

González Iñárritu Takes Home Three Oscars, Including Best Picture, for “Birdman”

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

And just like that, Alejandro González Iñárritu is a three-time Oscar winner…

The 51-year-old Mexican filmmaker, who had previously come away empty-handed after four previous nominations, walked away with three golden statuettes as the 87th Academy Awards, becoming the first-ever three-time Latino Oscar winner in history.

González Iñárritu’s dark comedy Birdman was named Best Picture at the end of Sunday night’s telecast. The film, starring Michael Keaton, tells the story of a down-and-out actor looking to get back into the spotlight with a passion project on Broadway. The film was produced by González Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan and James W. Skotchdopole, who were on-hand to accept the award.

Additionally, González Iñárritu took home the prize for Best Director, a recognition of the awe-inspiring technical feat of making nearly the entire film appear to take place in a single shot, as well as a tip of the hat to his incredible career. He’s the second Latino director to win the prize, following Alfonso Cuarón’s win last year for Gravity.

González Iñárritu’s third Oscar came in the Best Original Screenplay for co-writing the script for Birdman with Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo.

In his acceptance speech, González Iñárritu mentioned issues facing Mexicans and Mexican Americans, “I pray that we can find & build a government that we deserve. And the ones that live in this country that they can be treated with the same dignity and respect as ones that came before in this great nation.”

Meanwhile, Birdman cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki won his second Oscar in two years. The Mexican cinematographer, a frequent collaborator of auteurs Terrence Malick and Cuarón, won his first Oscar for 2013’s Gravity, and brought his awe-inspiring single-take methodology back for Birdman.

Backstage following his acceptance speech, Lubezki stressed that the decision to shoot in one take was Gonzalez Iñarritú’s. “At first I told him I wasn’t interested, it sounded like a nightmare! But then he talked about the characters and why it had to be one shot. He captivated me. It was complex and hard; there’s no book on how to do it, but I have to say that the style was because Alejandro is a strong, curious artist.”

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