Tag Archives: Luc Besson

Jennifer Lopez to Star in & Produce Netflix’s Action Feature “The Mother”

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Jennifer Lopez has landed a mother of a role…

The 51-year-old Puerto Rican superstar is reteaming with Netflix to star in and produce the action feature The Mother.

Lopez will play a deadly female assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men. The project is reportedly in the spirit of the Luc Besson classic The Professional.

Misha Green penned the original screenplay with revisions Andrea Berloff.

Lopez is producing with Elaine Goldsmith Thomas for Nuyorican Productions; Benny Medina; Roy Lee and Miri Yoon for Vertigo Entertainment; as well as Green. Catherine Hagedorn will serve as EP with Courtney Baxter as Associate Producer.

Niki Caro is in talks to direct.

Lopez is starring in and producing the Netflix adaptation of the Isabella Maldonado novel The Cipher.  In that movie, Lopez will play FBI agent Nina Guerrera, who is pulled into a serial killer’s case after he leaves complex codes and riddles online, which are linked to his recent murders.

Lopez recently performed at the U.S. Presidential Inauguration of Joe Biden. She is currently filming Lionsgate’s Shotgun Wedding, and will be seen in Universal’s musical-driven romantic comedy Marry Me with Owen Wilson, which is set for theatrical release on May 14.

In 2019, Lopez scored her biggest domestic opening for a live-action feature at the box office and stateside hit with STX’s Hustlers ($33.1M opening, $105M domestic B.O.), a role which earned her a second Golden Globe nomination, as well as a supporting actress SAG nomination.

Cruz & Bardem to Star in Biopic About Colombian Drug Cartel Kingpin Pablo Escobar

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Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have found their latest joint venture…

The 41-year-old Spanish actress and her 46-year-old Spanish actor husband, considered a power couple in Hollywood, have signed on to star in Escobar, the latest film about the rise of Colombian drug cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar for Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp.

Penelope Cruz & Javier Bardem

The biopic will be based on Virginia Vallejo’s 2008 Spanish-language memoir Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar.

Vallejo is the Colombian journalist whose career came to a halt in the mid-1990s after it was revealed she had a romantic relationship with Escobar in the mid-’80s. She published her memoir in 2007 and she had to seek asylum in the U.S. three years later, according to her website.

Fernando León de Aranoa will pen the adaptation and direct the pic, which is ramping up now for a production start sometime this year.

Bardem and León de Aranoa previously collaborated on 2002’s Spanish-language Mondays in the Sun.

EuropaCorp will finance, distribute and co-produce Escobar with Pinguin Films and Dean Nichols Productions.

NBC Acquires U.S. broadcast rights to EuropaCorp Television‘s “Taxi Brooklyn,” Starring José Zúñiga

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José Zúñiga is Brooklyn bound…

NBC has acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to EuropaCorp Television‘s action/comedy series Taxi Brooklyn, starring the Honduran-born American actor.

José Zúñiga

The 12-episode series, based on Luc Besson‘s Taxi feature film franchise, stars Grey’s Anatomy alumna Chyler Leigh and Inglourious Basterds’ Jacky Ido.

Leigh portrays Detective Caitlyn “Cat” Sullivan, who is determined to find out the truth about the death of her father, an New York PD detective who was killed in the line of duty. When her stubborn character and recklessness behind the wheel see her demoted to foot patrol, she teams with the highly skilled and charming Marseille-born cabbie Leo Romba. Realizing Leo lied on his immigration form, Cat offers him a deal: in exchange for his driving prowess and taxi, she will help Leo with his papers situation. He becomes her personal driver and police consultant as they race through the streets of New York City solving cases.

Formerly known as Taxi: Brooklyn South, Taxi Brooklyn was shot in English in the titular borough along with Manhattan and Queens.

No word on Zúñiga’s character in the series, which NBC plans to debut the series this summer.

Former Blue Bloods co-star Jennifer Esposito, Ally Walker, James Colby, Bill Heck and Raul Casso round out the cast.

The series hails from EuropaCorp Television with the participation of France’s TF1 which starts airing the series April 14.

Zúñiga’s previous television credits include 24, Prison Break, CSI: Miami, The Event, Scandal, Person of Interest and Dexter.