Tag Archives: Martin Freeman

Jenna Ortega’s “Miller’s Girl” to World Premiere at the Palm Springs Film Festival 

Posted on by
Reply

Jenna Ortega’s latest project will have its debut in the California desert…

Jade Halley Bartlett‘s Miller’s Girl, starring the 21-year-old Mexican American actress and Wednesday star and Martin Freeman, will make its world premiere at the 2024 Palm Springs Film Festival before it opens in theaters next month.

Jenna Ortega, Miller's GirlLionsgate and Point Grey Pictures are behind the movie, which marks the feature writing and directing debut for Bartlett, who wrote the original play in 2011 and adapted it into a screenplay that landed on the 2016 Black List.

Miller’s Girl will premiere at the festival on January 11 and open in cinemas beginning Friday, January 26.

Ortega, Freeman and Bartlett are set to attend the Palm Springs screening at the festival, which runs January 4-15. They will be a part of the fest’s Talking Pictures program that features post-screening Q&As with cast and creatives.

The film centers on the unraveling of a complex connection between lonely intellectuals: a failed writer named Jonathan Miller (Freeman) and his remarkable student Cairo Sweet (Ortega). When a creative writing assignment prompts uncomfortable realities, both realize they’ve blurred lines beyond the academic. The pic is about the imminent, inexorable attraction between characters who become both hero and villain in each other’s stories.

Bashir Salahuddin, Gideon Adlon and Dagmara Domińczyk also star.

Ortega’s hit Netflix series Wednesday will begin shooting in late April in Ireland, after Season 1 was shot in Romania. The first season ranks as Netflix’s most popular series of all time with 252.1 million views to date.

On the film front, Ortega recently confirmed that the Wednesday schedule means she won’t be able to return for the next installment of Scream, after she helped Scream VI this year to the horror franchise’s best opening grosses ever at $44.4 million in the U.S.

Ortega is next up opposite Ben Foster, Toby Wallace and Tommy Lee Jones in Brian Helgeland’s crime thriller Finestkind, which has its world premiere Tuesday.

She also has Beetlejuice 2 in the works for a September 2024 launch.

Otmara Marrero to Star in NBC’s Quarantine-Themed Comedy Series “Connecting”

Posted on by
Reply

It’s a new connection for Otmara Marrero…

The Cuban-American actress has been cast as the lead in NBC’s comedy series Connecting.

Otmara Marrero

Written and executive produced by Martin Gero and Brendan Gall, Connectingis an ensemble comedy about a group of friends trying to stay close (and sane) through video chats as they share the highs and lows of these extraordinary times.

Last month it received an eight-episode straight-to-series order.

Marrero will play Annie (fka Abby), who identifies as female. Her friends describe her as a hermit who would barely go out, even before the quarantine started.

Universal Television, a division of NBCUniversal Content Studios, is the studio.

Marrero played the female lead in Dick Wolf’s ABC drama pilot reboot New York Undercover, which was produced by Universal Television. 

She previously starred for three seasons on Sony Crackle’s series StartUp opposite Martin Freeman and Adam Brody. 

Her film credits include Vandal and Clementine. 

Crackle Renews Otmara Marrero’s Series “StartUp” for a Third Season

Posted on by
1

Otmara Marrero is starting up again…

Sony’s Crackle has given the greenlight to a 10-episode third season of its popular hour-long original series StartUp, starring the Latina actress.

Otmara Marrero

The sophomore season of the tech-infused thriller is currently the No.1 title on the free, ad-supported service.

StartUp has also been a hit internationally and well-received by fans in more than 50 countries, according to Crackle.

Created by Ben Ketai, the past season of StartUp took the narrative beyond the world of cryptocurrency and pulled the curtain back on the intersection between technology and the digital black market through a darknet prototype called Araknet.

In addition to Marrero, who portrays Izzy, season 2 stars Adam Brody and Ron Perlman, who also are producers, as well as Martin Freeman, Edi Gathegi and Addison Timlin.

“We are excited to open the writers room and partner with Crackle for Season 3 of StartUp,” said creator Ketai, also a writer, executive producer and director on the series. “This past season was exciting, with nods to relevant and timely topics like corporatization of the Internet, Bitcoin , after having paid attention to the bitcoin news now, and the darknet that made for some great storytelling. But the series works because those headlines are juxtaposed with the personal stories of our characters and how the cost of ambition impacts their lives and the lives of those around them. We will take that narrative even further in this next chapter and look forward to bringing the StartUp family back together again in the new year.”

StartUp is produced by Critical Content and Hollywood Gang Productions.

“Thanks to Ben Ketai for his vision and to our stellar ensemble cast — Martin, Adam, Ron, Edi, Otmara and Addison — whose tremendous performances gave this series the kind of weight and edge that viewers have come to expect from a Crackle original,” said Eric Berger, GM of Crackle and EVP and Chief Digital Officer at Sony Pictures Television Networks. “We are excited to continue the story in season three and expect that Ben and company will take us on another entertaining and wild ride.”

Molina to Star in Paramount Pictures’ Untitled Tina Fey-Margot Robbie Project

Posted on by
Reply

Alfred Molina is about to do the Taliban Shuffle…

The 61-year-old half-Spanish actor has signed on to appear in Paramount Pictures’ Untitled Tina Fey–Margot Robbie–Martin Freeman project.

Alfred Molina

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the film is based on the autobiography The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Kim Barker. The book is being adapted by 30 Rock scribe Robert Carlock.

Production has already started in New Mexico.

Molina joins a cast that includes Billy Bob Thornton, Sheila Vand, Christopher Abbott, Nicholas Braun, Stephen Peacocke and Evan Jonigkeit.

Molina most recently appeared on the big screen in the drama Love is Strange.