Manolo Caro Signs First-Look Deal with Onyx Collective 

Manolo Caro has a new first-look deal…

Onyx Collective has signed the 39-year-old Mexican director and The House of Flowers creator and Woo Films’ co-founders Rafael Ley and Maria Jose Cordova to a multiyear first-look deal.

Manolo CaroUnder the deal, Caro, Ley and Cordova will develop new projects for Onyx Collective.

“Manolo Caro is in a rare class of storytellers who blend heart and humor to reveal the essence of what makes us all human,” said Tara Duncan, president, Onyx Collective. “He is a proven hitmaker, and we’re excited to bring his universal stories to the Hulu audience.”

“Joining the creative voices at Onyx is not only a commitment to my artistic mission but a critical reflection of my own identity,” says Caro. “I want to tell stories through my particular vision and pop lens and create content that allows me to share with the world what my culture is and what has driven me all the way here.”

Caro and Woo Films join an extensive roster of creatives with deals with Onyx including Ryan Coogler, Destin Daniel Cretton, Jason Kim, Joseph Patel, Prentice Penny, Natasha Rothwell, Yara Shahidi and Erika Green Swafford.

Caro’s background spans writing, producing and directing for film and theater.

Among his film credits, which made him the first Mexican director in the top 10 of the Mexican box office for three consecutive years, are titles like Perfectos Desconocidos and La Vida Inmoral de la Pareja Ideal.

His debut feature was a film adaptation of I Don’t Know Whether to Slit My Wrists or Leave Them Long, which he initially wrote and directed for the theater. He followed that up with titles like Elvira I Will Give You My Life But I’m Using It and Tales of an Immoral Couple.

For television, Caro as a Latin American showrunner, was behind the Netflix release The House of Flowers. While under a development deal at Netflix, he created the miniseries Alguien Tiene que Morir and the streamer’s first Spanish-speaking musical series, Sebastián Yatra: Érase una vez.

The first season of his latest release, Sagrada Familia, starring Najwa Nimri and Alba Flores, debuted on Netflix’s top 10 in over 56 countries.

Cecilia Suárez to Star in ABC Drama Pilot “Promised Land”

Cecilia Suárez has landed a new starring role…

The 49-year-old Mexican actress and activist has been set as a lead opposite Augusto Aguilera in John Ortiz’s ABC drama pilot Promised Land.

Cecilia Suarez,

Written by Matt LopezPromised Land is an epic, generation-spanning drama about two Latinx families vying for wealth and power in California’s Sonoma Valley.

Suárez plays Lettie Sandoval, the matriarch of the Sandoval family, a wealthy vineyard-owning family in the Sonoma Valley. Lettie will do anything to keep her family, with all its fraying allegiances, intact. She is proud of the fortune the Sandovals have built, but the arrival of a figure from Lettie’s past soon causes her to question whether the cost of achieving the American Dream is too high.

Aguilera will play Mateo Sandoval,t he hardworking, highly capable general manager of the Heritage Vineyard, but as the stepson to patriarch Joe Sandoval (Ortiz), he has never felt fully accepted by the wealthy, vineyard-owning Sandoval family. Mateo finds himself at a crossroads when a young immigrant who reminds him of his roots arrives to work in the Sandoval household.

Previously cast in the pilot are Mariel Molino as Camila Sandoval, the youngest daughter of the Sandoval family, Christina Ochoa as Veronica Sandoval, the eldest daughter of the Sandovals, as well as Andres Velez as Carlos Rincón, a young immigrant who comes to the Heritage Vineyard in search of a better life.

Suárez just wrapped the title role in Latido Films’ feature Alegria, directed by Violeta Salama. She can be seen in the new Netflix Spanish mini-series Someone Has To Die, written and directed by her long-time collaborator Manolo Caro.

She also starred in the Amazon limited series 3 Caminos. For the last three seasons, she starred in Manolo Caro’s popular Netflix series: The House of Flowers (La Casa de las Flores). She also is the first Spanish speaking actress to be nominated for an International Emmy Award for her role in the Capadoccia series for HBO.

Aguilera recently recurred as Liver opposite Ray Romano and Cristin Milioti in HBO Max’s Made For Love, a half-hour series adaptation based on Alissa Nutting’s tragicomic novel. Aguilera was also seen as one of the leads in Nic Refn’s Amazon series Too Old To Die Young, opposite Miles Teller.

He was previously seen in 20th Century Fox’s The Predator, directed by Shane Black and the Hulu pilot Citizen directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon as well as the Audience Network series Ice directed by Antoine Fuqua.

Caro Bringing 13-Episode Dark Comedy Project to Netflix

Manolo Caro has landed a high-profile project…

Netflix has set an untitled half-hour dark comedy from the Mexican filmmaker.

Manolo Caro

Shooting will begin in Mexico early next year with the 13-episode series later available across all 190 Netflix territories.

Shot in 4K, the comedy revolves around a seemingly successful and idyllic family-run flower business full of dysfunctional secrets. When the patriarch finds out his longtime mistress has suddenly passed away, he decides to bring their children into the household alongside his current wife and family who didn’t know they existed.

The series explores the need to protect and forgive loved ones, no matter how uncomfortable.

Erik Barmack, Netflix vice president of international originals, cites the success of Club De Cuervos in Mexico and in other countries as reaffirming “our bet on Mexican talent and productions like the upcoming Ingobernable, and this new project with Manolo.”

Caro is best known for such films as Tales of an Immoral Couple, Elvira I’ll Give You My Life But I’m Using It, Love of My Loves, and I Don’t Know Whether to Slit My Veins or Leave Them Long.

This project will be part of the Netflix Original productions slate filmed in Latin America including Narcos, Club de Cuervos, Ingobernable, 3%, Edha, O Matador and the untitled project from Jose Padilha based on current events in Brazil.