Sofia Vergara Lending Voice to Illumination’s Animated Film “Despicable Me 4”

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a despicable time for Sofia Vergara.

The 51-year-old Colombian actress is starring in Illumination’s Despicable Me 4, the first Despicable Me film in seven years that sees Gru, the supervillain-turned-Anti-Villain League-agent, return with his Minions.

Following the 2022 summer blockbuster of Illumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru, which earned almost $1 billion worldwide, the animated franchise now begins a new chapter as Gru (Steve Carrell) and Lucy (Kristen Wiig) and their girls —Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Madison Polan)—welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad.

Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Vergara), and the family is forced to go on the run.

The film features new characters voiced by Joey King, Stephen Colbert and Chloe Fineman.

Pierre Coffin returns as the iconic voice of the Minions and Steve Coogan returns as Silas Ramsbottom.

Despicable Me 4 is directed by a co-creator of the Minions, Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets), and is produced by Illumination’s founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and by Brett Hoffman (executive producer, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Minions: The Rise of Gru).

The film is co-directed by Patrick Delage, and the screenplay is by Mike White and the veteran writer of every Despicable Me film, Ken Daurio.

The first trailer for ‘DESPICABLE ME 4’ has been released.

In theaters on July 3. pic.twitter.com/hxVzEqScB1

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 28, 2024

Netflix Releases Trailer for Jacob Elordi’s “The Kissing Booth 3”

Posted on July 6, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Here’s Jacob Elordi’s latest kissing moment…

Netflix has released the official trailer for The Kissing Booth 3, the latest and final installment of the hit young-adult romantic comedy series that stars the 24-year-old Spanish Australian actor and Joey King.

The film will hit the streamer August 11.

Franchise writer-director Vince Marcello shot the threequel alongside the second film, which premiered last July. The first film in the series was the most re-watched Netflix film of 2018.

Kissing Booth 3 continues the coming-of-age of King’s Elle. It’s the summer before she heads to college, and she’s facing the hardest decision of her life (albeit from her family’s posh beach house): whether to go to Harvard and move across the country with her boyfriend Noah (Elordi), or fulfill her lifelong promise to go to college (at UC Berkeley) with her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney).

Marcello and Jay Arnold penned the script, which is based on the final book in Beth Reekles’ trilogy (the first book was published on Wattpad in 2010 when she was 15).

Taylor Zakhar Perez, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Meganne Young and Molly Ringwald also return to the case..

Rosario Dawson to Star in Apple TV+’s Genre-Bending Auditory Adaptation of Canal+’s “Calls”

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Rosario Dawson is placing some calls…

Apple TV+ announced the cast, which includes the 41-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actress and activist, and set the premiere date for its genre-bending auditory adaptation of Canal Plus’ Calls.

In addition to Dawson, the stars featured in the first season of the nine-part drama, include Nick Jonas, Pedro Pascal, Lily Collins, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Aubrey Plaza are among the stars featuring in the first season of the nine-part drama.

Launching on Friday, March 19, the show uses audio and minimal abstract visuals to tell nine short-form stories. Each episode follows a dark mystery that unfolds through a series of seemingly average, unconnected phone calls that quickly become surreal as the characters face growingly unsettling experiences.

Based on a French series created by Timothée Hochet, it is directed by Fede Álvarez, who directed 2013’s Evil Dead feature and 2016’s horror film Don’t Breathe.

Nicholas Braun, Clancy Brown, Mark Duplass, Karen Gillan, Judy Greer, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, Riley Keough, Joey King, Stephen Lang, Jaeden Martell, Paola Nuñez, Edi Patterson, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz and Jennifer Tilly also appear in the first season.

Calls was the streamer’s first international series order back in June 2018 and it also marks its first global co-production – a tie up with French pay-TV broadcaster Canal+. Apple will launch the series, which is produced with Studiocanal and Bad Hombre, in 100 countries, while Canal+ will premiere a French-language version in a number of markets.

Apple will launch the series in a number of Spanish-speaking Latin America markets as Llamadas with Spanish-language custom graphics.

Taylor Zakhar Perez Signs with WME & Anonymous Content

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Taylor Zakhar Perez is ready to take his career to the next level…

The young Latino actor has signed with WME and Anonymous Content.

Perez is coming off of a breakout role on the Vince Marcello-helmed hit Netflix franchise The Kissing Booth.

Based on the YA novel by Beth Reekles, the teen rom-com follows the romantic adventures of Elle, played by Joey King, her bad-boy boyfriend Noah (Jacob Elordi), and her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney). Perez first appeared in last year’s Kissing Booth 2, in the role of Marco, a handsome, charismatic new classmate who complicates Elle’s love journey.

Netflix reported that The Kissing Booth 2 was viewed by more than 65 million people in the first four weeks on the platform.

Perez is set to return for the third installment, which will debut this summer. It picks up where the second one left off. It’s the summer before Elle heads to college, and she has a secret decision to make. She has been accepted into Harvard, where boyfriend Noah is matriculating, and also Berkeley, where her BFF Lee (Noah’s brother) is headed. Which path should she choose?

Perez was also recently cast in the HBO Max comedy pilot Minx from Ellen Rapoport, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, and Lionsgate Television.

Bad Bunny to Star Opposite Brad Pitt in the Action Film “Bullet Train”

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Bad Bunny is speeding into Hollywood like a bullet…

The 26-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton singer will star opposite Brad Pitt in action film Bullet Train.

The Latin Grammy winner and platinum-selling recording artist joins a cast that includes Joey King, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, Michael Shannon, Logan Lerman, Masi Oka and Andrew Koji.

David Leitch will direct and also supervise the script, which will be written by Zak Olkewicz.

The film is based on the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by bestselling author Kotaro Isaka.

Plot details are vague, and it is unknown who Sanada will be playing.

Bad Bunny’s most recent album, El Ultimo Tour del Mundo debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the first all-Spanish album to reach this position. This year, he was proclaimed the No. 1 artist globally on Spotify and the No. 1 Latin artist of 2020 by Billboard for second consecutive year.

Most recently, he released his single Dakiti with Jhay Cortez, which made history as the first Latin song to simultaneously reach #1 on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. as well as on Spotify’s Top 200 and Apple Music’s Top 100: Global.

He’s set to make his acting debut in the Kevin Hart produced drama American Sole, starring Pete Davidson, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Camila Mendes and Offset.

Netflix to Release Third Installment of Jacob Elordi’s “The Kissing Booth” Next Year

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

There’s more Kissing in Jacob Elordi’s future…

Netflix will release a third installment of the 23-year-old Spanish-Australian actor and Joey King’s teen rom-com The Kissing Booth.

Vince Marcello, who adapted and directed the first two films from the novels Beth Reekles originally self-published through Wattpad, has already finished shooting the third film, and he’s already in post-production on it.

King, an executive producer on the films, revealed the news during a livestream fan event.

The film was quietly shot in tandem withThe Kissing Booth 2 in South Africa, and it’ll be released in 2021.

The third installment will pick up where the second one ended.

The second film’s plot: It’s the summer before Elle heads to college, and she has a secret decision to make. She has been accepted into Harvard, where boyfriend Noah is matriculating, and also Berkeley, where her BFF Lee (Noah’s brother) is headed. Which path should she choose?

The first installment became the most re-watched Netflix film of 2018. Besides King, Elordi and Courtney, also back will be original cast members Taylor Zakhar Perez, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Meganne Young and Molly Ringwald.

Marcello wrote the script with Jay Arnold.

Elordi’s previous credits include Deep Water, Bad Dream and 2 Hearts.

Netflix Releases Trailer for Jacob Elordi’s “The Kissing Booth 2”

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Jacob Elordi’s back in the Booth…

Netflix has released the official trailer for The Kissing Booth 2 starring the 23-year-old Australian actor of Spanish descent and Joey King.

Elordi and King reprise their roles from the first film as the couple’s relationship is challenged by distance.

The trailer for the Netflix sequel, which dropped Monday, picks up exactly where the first movie left off. After deciding to date her best friend Lee’s older brother Noah (Elordi), Elle (King) spends the summer with Noah until Harvard‘s fall semester brings their days together to a halt. With her boyfriend now on the East Coast, Elle must face senior year and college decisions without him.

As luck would have it, high school sports star Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Harvard student Chloe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) join the equation, complicating the couple’s dynamic.

“So many beautiful girls at Harvard, experienced girls,” the popular girls tell Elle, who eventually finds pictures of Noah with Chloe. “With different zip codes, breakups are basically automatic.”

Boys aside, Elle has more decisions to make as her time in high school comes to an end.

“Lee and I have dreamed of going to Berkeley, ever since we found out that’s where our moms became besties,” she says.

Despite Lee (Joel Courtney) and Elle’s plan to go attend the same college, Noah suggests his girlfriend join him at Harvard, inciting tension between the two childhood friends once again.

The trailer features Lee and Elle recruiting Marco for their kissing booth, flashy images from a school talent show, Elle sharing a tender moment at the beach with the school jock and Noah and Marco meeting face to face.

“As soon as I start to figure out one thing, something or someone changes and makes me question everything,” Elle says.

The film, directed by Vince Marcello, starts streaming on Netflix on July 24.

Ortiz Lands Roles in “Going In Style” and “A Dog’s Purpose”

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

John Ortiz is ending the year with a bang, landing back-to-back film roles…

The 47-year-old Puerto Rican actor, director and producer will first star in New Line Cinema’s upcoming comedy Going In Style, directed by Zach Braff from a script by Theodore Melfi.

Ortiz will portray “Jesus,” a Mensa smart criminal who is socially responsible and deplores society’s treatment of the elderly.

He joins Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, along with Ann-Margret, Peter Serafinowicz, Joey King and Christopher Lloyd, in the remake of the 1979 classic.

Ortiz will then follow up that film with the live action DreamWorks feature A Dog’s Purpose, based on the novel by W. Bruce Cameron.

The film is a series of vignettes directed by Lasse Hallstrom and starring Bradley Cooper (as the voice of the dog), along with Dennis Quaid, Britt Robertson, KJ Apa, Juliet Rylance and Peggy Lipton.

Ortiz stars in his segment as “Carlos”, a stern, all business cop who trains his dog to assist him in solving crime.

Ortiz can next be seen in Disney’s The Finest Hours, starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck, and directed by Craig Gillespie, as well as Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs.

He recently wrapped the indie A Woman, A Part starring opposite Maggie Siff and directed by Elisabeth Subrin.

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