Diego Luna & Gael García Bernal to Executive Produce “The Boys” Offshoot, “The Boys: Mexico”

Posted on November 28, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal are bringing the boys south of the border…

The 43-year-old Mexican actor, director and producer and the 44-year-old Mexican Golden Globe-winning actor and producer will executive produce and possibly appear in acting roles in The Boys: Mexico, a new series offshoot of The Boys from Blue Beetle writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer.

Details regarding the premise of the series are being kept under wraps.

A search is currently underway for a co-showrunner to join creator, writer and executive producer Dunnet-Alcocer, who is now working on the script.

The team behind The Boys: Mexico, which will be shot in the Latin American country, is working on budgets for the new series and they have yet to begin casting, sources said.

The Mexico-set offshoot comes from the main creative auspices behind the other series in The Boys franchise, the mothership’s developer Eric Kripke and his Kripke Enterprises, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures, Neil H. Moritz’s Original Film, Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios. Loreli Alba is expected to oversee for Point Grey.

The Boys, based on the New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, shares a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes—who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians, and as revered as gods—abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. Intent on stopping the corrupt superheroes, The Boys, a group of vigilantes, continue their heroic quest to expose the truth about The Seven and Vought—the multibillion-dollar conglomerate that manages the superheroes and covers up their dirty secrets. It’s the seemingly powerless against the super-powerful.

Following the breakout success of The Boys, which is headed to Season 4, two spinoff series were released in 2023: the animated The Boys Presents: Diabolical, which premiered in March, and the college-set spinoff Gen V, which recently concluded its first season and has been renewed for Season 2.

The Boys: Mexico is the latest project hailing from rising star Dunnet-Alcocer, who penned the screenplay for the Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Studios superhero feature film, Blue Beetle. Most recently, he wrote the screenplay for Sony’s El Muerto from director Jonás Cuarón. The Queretaro, Mexico native also wrote and executive produced Miss Bala in 2019. Additionally, Dunnet-Alcocer is attached as screenwriter of the Universal Pictures’ reimagination of Scarface.

Luna and García Bernal are veteran actors whose careers exploded following their collaboration in the hit 2001 Spanish-language feature Y Tu Mamá También directed by Alfonso Cuarón. They have reunited multiple times since then including in Rudo y Cursi (2008) and Casa de Mi Padre (2012).

Most recently Luna joined the Star Wars universe in the Disney+ TV series Andor, a prequel to Star Wars: Rogue One.

García Bernal most recently starred in the Amazon bio-drama Cassandro portraying the titular gay wrestler born Saúl Armendáriz.

The longtime friends and collaborators became producing partners in 2018 under their La Corriente del Golfo banner. Recent projects they produced include the aforementioned Cassandro and the series Pan y Circo hosted by Luna, both for Amazon.

Jonas Cuaron to Direct Bad Bunny in Sony Pictures’ “El Muerto”

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Jonas Cuaron has landed a project to die for…

The 41-year-old Mexican film director, screenwriter, producer, editor and cinematographer will direct Sony Pictures’ El Muerto, starring Bad Bunny.

Cuarón, the son of Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón, is known for the 2015 thriller film Desierto.

El Muerto is in early development, and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer is writing the script.

El Muerto is a character within Spider-Man’s universe, and the film would mark the first time a Latino character leads a Marvel live-action film. He is an antihero and the son of a luchador next in line to inherit the ancestral power of “El Muerto.”

“It’s amazing, it’s incredible,” Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito A Martínez Ocasio, said earlier this year at Cinemacon about his involvement in El Muerto. “I love wrestling. I grew up watching wrestling, and I’m a wrestler. I’m a former champion, so this is why I love this character. I think it’s the perfect role to me, and it will be epic.”

Although Bad Bunny is best known for his Grammy-winning music, he has been getting more involved in the acting world.

He had an arc in the Netflix series Narcos: México, playing Arturo “Kitty” Páez. Earlier this year he made his big-screen debut in Bullet Train, where he was directed by David Leitch and shared screen credits with Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Andrew Koji, Michael Shannon and Sandra Bullock, among others.

Sony Pictures is expected to release El Muerto in theaters on January 12, 2024.

Demián Bichir to Star in Jonas Cuaron’s Feature Film “Chupa”

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Demián Bichir is getting mythical…

The 57-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated actor has joined the cast of Jonás Cuarón’s feature Chupa alongside Dominic Mariche, Adriel Manzano and Isabella Patron.

The film follows teenager Alex (Mariche), who while visiting his family in Mexico, gains an unlikely companion when he discovers a young chupacabra hiding in his grandpa’s shed. In order to save the mythical creature, Alex and his cousins (Manzano and Patron) must embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

Cuarón and Tim Sexton wrote the most recent screenplay based on an original script by Marcus Rinehart, Sean Kennedy Moore and Joe Barnathan.

“Demián, Dominic, Adriel and Isabella all bring a genuineness to the characters they play,” says Cuarón. “Growing up in both Mexico and the US, I’m fortunate to have my own life experiences to inspire the stories that I tell. It’s even more special to have found a cast that is able to lend an additional layer of authenticity to Chupa.”

The film is part of 26th Street Pictures’ first look deal at Netflix. 26th’s Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe are producing. EPs are G. Mac Brown and Brendan Bellomo.

Columbus said, “A story is only as good as the actors who can make it come to life. Demián is an acclaimed actor and after an extensive search, we’re thrilled with the true talent we’ve found in Adriel, Isabela and Dominic, all of whom lend heart and authenticity to their roles. We can’t wait for people around the world to meet them and see just how special they make this film.”

Bichir’s feature credits include Land, Godzilla vs. Kong, The Midnight Sky, The Hateful Eight and Alien: Covenant. He received a 2012 Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his turn in A Better Life.

Mariche starred on television shows like The Good Doctor, See and Are You Afraid of the Dark?.

Gael Garcia Bernal to Star in Jonas Cuaron’s Showtime Thriller Drama Pilot “Hombre”

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Gael Garcia Bernalis the man…

The 40-year-old Mexican actor/producer has been cast as the lead in Showtime’s thriller drama pilot Hombre, which hails from BAFTA nominee Jonas Cuarón (Gravity).

Garcia Bernal, who won a Golden Globe for his lead role in Mozart in the Jungle, will star alongside Marisé Alvarez (The Vessel), Greg Grunberg (A Star Is Born), Pepi Sonuga (Famous In Love), Adriana Santos (Taken) and newcomer Noah Reyes in the pilot, which is set to begin production at the end of April in Los Angeles.

Created by Cuarón, who also will direct the pilot, Hombre centers on a Mexican-American family man named Marcos Osuna (Bernal) who is living undocumented in the United States. When his wife Leticia is detained by ICE, Marcos, both desperate and resourceful, goes to unprecedented lengths to get her back. The project is an emotional thriller about a man enmeshed in a dangerous double life, contending with powerful forces set on thwarting his unwavering desire to unite his family.

Hombre is a co-production between Showtime and Makeready.

Alvarez will play Marcos’ smart and selfless wife Leticia, whose detention by ICE proves to be the ultimate test on her marriage and close-knit family.

Sonuga will play Adanna, a kind-hearted undocumented immigrant from Nigeria who works with Marcos at a motel. Grunberg will play Norm, a friendly and well-intended ICE trainee.

Santos will play Leticia’s sister Teresa. Reyes will play Marcos’ and Leticia’s pre-adolescent son Anthony.

Alvarez recently appeared in the feature films The Vessel and Imprisoned, and the Spanish mini-series En el corredor de la muerte. She had her first notable role in the Puerto Rican feature Maldeamores, and starred in Steve Soderbergh’s Che: Part One and Che: Part Two.

Santos can be seen in the upcoming film Night Swim directed by Victoria Riverapremiering at Tribeca. Her television credits include Taken, Sweetbitter and Daredevil.

Reyes is a newcomer from Ontario, California. Hombre marks his first television series regular role.

Celis Producing First TV Series, “Monstruos Perfectos”

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Nicolas Celis is ready for the small screen…

The 30-year old Mexican film producer is preparing for his first television series, Monstruos Perfectos, which recently received development support from the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) under the new TV series support scheme launched in late 2016.

Meanwhile, Celis’ Pimienta Films, one of Mexico’s leading production outfits, is completing production on Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” his first picture lensed in Mexico since “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” and “Birds of Passage,” from Colombia’s Oscar nominated Ciro Guerra (“Embrace of the Serpent”).

Monstruos Perfectos is set in Mexico and will be produced by Pimienta, with external producers Marion d’Ornato and Enrique M. Rizo. Rizo has worked with Celis as second assistant director on Semana Santa, and as production manager on Tempestad, Soy Nero and The Untamed.

“This will be my first experience in TV,” Celis revealed to Variety, although he refrained from outlining the story. “I’m really happy to jump aboard. For me this is completely new world. I really love that IMCINE is exploring new content opportunities. We want to make a TV series that’s much more cinematic, than TV series produced in Mexico so far.”

Celis said that it’s been great to work with Cuaron on Roma, having previously worked with his brother, Carlos, on “Rudo y Cursi,” early in his career, and having been one of the producers on the 2015 pic Desierto, by his son, Jonas.

“Roma” chronicles a year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s and is produced by Cuaron, Celis, Gabriela Rodriguez (“Gravity”), and exec produced by Participant Media.

Roma is Celis’ first period movie. Its 1970s setting was prior to his own birth – in 1986 – which he says provoked some wisecracks during the shoot. “For me it’s been my most challenging and interesting project so far. I’m a big fan of Alfonso’s work since a kid and I loved that he wanted me to work on his new film.”

Guerra’s Birds of Passage is also set in the 1970s and is produced by Colombia’s Ciudad Lunar (Cristina Gallego and Katrin Pors), as well as Celis and Argentine producers MC Productions and Buffalo Films, with Colombia’s Caracol TV also on board.

Celis previously worked with Pors on The Untamed. “Working with Katrin has been a great discovery,” said Celis. “We’re trying to work with her on our next projects.”

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.

García Bernal Selected as Lead in Zorro Reboot

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Gael García Bernal is the ultimate swashbuckler…

The 37-year-old Mexican American actor will star as the iconic lead character in a film entitled Z, the reboot of Zorro.

Garcia Bernal will come together again with filmmaker Jonás Cuarón for the project. Set in the near future, Z re-imagines the classic legend based on the beloved masked swashbuckler.

Cuarón’s Desierto, which stars García Bernal, will be released by STX Entertainment later in the year.

The project is written and will be directed by Cuarón and is eyeing a fall start at the Pinewood Dominican Republic studios.

García Bernal, who won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in his role in the Amazon series Mozart In The Jungle, was also in The Motorcycle Diaries and Babel.

The picture is being done as a co-production between Lantica Pictures and Mark Amin’s Sobini Films.

“I have always loved Gael for this role,” said Amin, who is producing with Lantica’s Albert Martínez Martín. “Zorro is a hero who is charming, witty and clever. Gael possesses all those characteristic and he’s able to deliver them with a modern spin to introduce the Zorro character to a new audience.”

Cuarón’s “Desierto” Selected as the LA Film Fest’s Closing Night Film

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Jonás Cuarón’s award-winning film is headed to Los Angeles…

The Mexican filmmaker’s thriller Desierto will be the closing night film of the Los Angeles Film Festival on June. 9.

Cuarón co-wrote and directed the film which centers on Mexican migrant workers looking to seek a better life by crossing the US border. Their journey quickly becomes a fight for survival, when the unarmed men and women are chased across the desert terrain by a merciless rifle-toting vigilante.

Desierto stars Gael García Bernal, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Alondra Hidalgo and Diego Cataño.

It was previously shown at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for Special Presentations.

The LA Film Fest runs from June 1 through June 9.

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.

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.

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