Andy Garcia Makes Billboard Chart Debut with His Cover of ABBA’s “Fernando” with Cher

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a musical first for Andy Garcia…

The 62-year-old Cuban actor is making his Billboard music chart as his cover of ABBA’s “Fernando” with music icon Cher debuts at No. 22 on the Adult Contemporary songs chart dated July 7.

Andy Garcia

The track appears on the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again film soundtrack, due July 14 via Decca Records.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again premieres in movie theaters on July 20 and is the sequel to the 2008 film Mamma Mia! Both movies were inspired by ABBA’s catalog of music, and the first film adapted the long-running stage musical of the same name.

Garcia and Cher are both new additions to theMamma Mia!cast. Cher plays Ruby Sheridan, the mother of Donna (Meryl Streep), while Garcia plays Fernando in the romantic comedy musical.

ABBA’s original version of “Fernando” is one of the quartet’s two AC leaders, having spent two weeks at No. 1 in 1976. The act led again with “The Winner Takes It All” in 1981.

Antonio Banderas Circling Steven Soderbergh’s Panama Papers Drama “The Laundromat”

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Banderas may be on paper duty soon…

The 57-year-old Spanish actor is reportedly circling The Laundromat, a Steven Soderbergh-directed drama about the Panama Papers scandal.

The film, written by Scott Z. Burns, is based on the Jake Bernstein book Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite.

Banderas isn’t the only high-profile actor circling the project. Gary Oldman and Meryl Streep are reportedly interested as well.

Netflix is among those considering the project, which is produced by Burns, Lawrence Grey, Soderbergh, Michael Sugar and First Look Media’s Topic Studios.

Netflix previously set a movie on the scandal by German journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, who broke the story and wrote the book Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the World’s Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money. John Wells is producing that film.

The drama is the story of the revelations of reams of documents leaked from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca in April by an anonymous whistleblower that bared embarrassing details on investments and money trails from politicians the world over, meant to evade taxes.

Salma Hayek Earns Movies for Grownups Awards Nomination from AARP

Posted on January 18, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Salma Hayek’s all grown up with reason to celebrate…

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has announced its nominees for the 17th Annual Movies for Grownups Awards, with the 51-year-old Mexican actress earning a nod.

Hayek is nominated in the Best Actress category for her performance in Miguel Arteta’s Beatriz at Dinner.

She’s nominated opposite Annette Bening (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool), Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul), Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and Meryl Streep (The Post).

Guillermo del Toro earned a nod in the Best Director category and one in the Best Screenwriter category for the 53-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s Golden Globe-winning drama The Shape of Water, which earned a nod for Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s Chavela, a film about the life of Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, who gained worldwide fame for her beauty and charm and her interpretation of traditional ranchera, earned a nomination in the Best Foreign Film category.

Winners will be honored at the annual awards at the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles on Monday, February 5 with Alan Cumming as host.

Co-produced by the Great Performances series, the awards will be broadcast for the first time on Friday, February 23 at 9:00 pm on PBS.

Here’s the complete list of nominees:

Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups
Get Out, Lady Bird, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Actress
Annette Bening (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool), Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul), Salma Hayek (Beatriz at Dinner), Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and Meryl Streep (The Post)

Best Actor
Steve Carell (Battle of the Sexes), Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread), Tom Hanks (The Post), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour), Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.)

Best Supporting Actress
Holly Hunter (The Big Sick), Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Melissa Leo (Novitiate), Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project), Laurence Fishburne (Last Flag Flying), Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water), and Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World)

Best Director
Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Orient Express), Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), Reginald Hudlin (Marshall), Ridley Scott (All the Money in the World) and Steven Spielberg (The Post)

Best Screenwriter
Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), James Ivory (Call Me by Your Name), Anthony McCarten (Darkest Hour), Steven Rogers (I, Tonya), Aaron Sorkin (Molly’s Game)

Best Ensemble
Get Out, Girls Trip, Last Flag Flying, Mudbound, Murder on the Orient Express

Best Grownup Love Story
Breathe, Films Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, The Leisure Seeker, Our Souls at Night, The Greatest Showman

Best Intergenerational Film
The Big Sick, The Florida Project, Lady Bird, Marjorie Prime, Wonder

Best Time Capsule
Battle of the Sexes, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, I, Tonya, The Post

Readers’ Choice Poll
Beauty and the Beast, Dunkirk, Get Out, Girls Trip, Last Flag Flying, Murder on the Orient Express, The Post, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Wonder, Wonder Woman

Best Documentary
Dolores, Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story, I Am Not Your Negro, Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo

Best Foreign Film
Chavela (Mexico), The Insult (Lebanon), Like Crazy (Italy), A Taxi Driver (South Korea), The Women’s Balcony (Israel)

First Trailer Released for Andy Garcia’s “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s all Greek to Andy Garcia…

Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the sequel to Mamma Mia! The Movie, starring the 61-year-old Cuban actor.

The sequel shifts back and forth in time to show how relationships forged in the past resonate in the present.

Ten years after Mamma Mia! The Movie grossed $610M worldwide, everybody’s back on the Greek island of Kalokairi for an all-new original musical based on the songs of the Swedish pop sensations.

All of the original cast returns including Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard.

Garcia is new to the island, along with Lily James showing off some pipes as Young Donna, Alexa Davies, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Jeremy Irvine, Josh Dylan and Hugh Skinner.

Cher also turns up in the trailer above as grandmother Ruby Sheridan.

Ol Parker writes and directs the sequel from a story by Catherine Johnson, Richard Curtis and Parker.

The musical comedy will open domestically in the U.S. on July 20, 2018.

Ferrera Lends Her Voice to Lena Dunham’s Short Film About Planned Parenthood

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

America Ferrera is showing her support for Planned Parenthood…

Lena Dunham premiered 100 Years, an animated short film about Planned Parenthood she co-directed, via her Lenny Letter and Now This Her, with the 32-year-old Honduran-American actress lending her voice as a narrator.

“We’ve been working on the film for over a year in an attempt to shed light on Planned Parenthood’s remarkable history and ongoing battle to keep serving the people who show up to their health centers every day of the year,” said Dunham. “I really think it’s the best cartoon about the history of reproductive freedom ever made, but it may also be the only cartoon about the history of reproductive freedom ever made.”

In addition to Ferrera, Meryl Streep, Hari Nef, Mindy Kaling, Jennifer Lawrence and Constance Wu also collaborated on the film, lending their voices as narrators.

The film tells the history of Planned Parenthood, from when Margaret Sanger started the organization to when the birth control pill was created, and discusses abortion-related legislation like Roe v. Wade and the Hyde Amendment.

“The spirit behind this video will hopefully take us into the Women’s March on Washington this weekend, where we will be showing our new president that we’re not going to allow a hundred years of progress to disappear overnight,” said Dunham, referring to the Women’s March that thousands of women are expected to attend January 21.

Dunham shared that she plans to lobby against the defunding of Planned Parenthood in Sacramento on Tuesday. She also designed a boxing glove T-shirt to benefit Planned Parenthood.

In Lenny Letter, writer and activist Janet Mock interviewed the women organizing the Women’s March, touching on the initial problems the march had with intersectionality.

“Unity feels like a utopian, almost mythical goal in these United States of America,” writes Mock. “It is difficult, backbreaking work to build and organize among varying identities, experiences, and urgencies — even under the umbrella of womanhood.”

Mock explained how the founders of the march recruited more diverse leaders with experience organizing, steering the march “toward a more intersectional and inclusive lens.”

Carmen Perez, in her interview with Mock, explained that starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, speakers will talk about different issues and there will be performances; the march itself will begin at 1:00 pm, once the programming has concluded.

Click here to visit the Now This Her Facebook page.

Thorne Joins Voice Cast of The Weinstein Co.’s “The Guardian Brothers”

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Bella Thorne has a new guardian…

The 19-year-old half-Cuban American actress/singer has joined the voice cast of The Weinstein Co.’s The Guardian Brothers.

Thorne, best known for starring in the Disney Channel series Shake It Up, joins a cast that includes Edward Norton, Jim Gaffigan, Meryl Streep, Mel Brooks and Nicole Kidman in the U.S. version of the animated movie.

Initially distributed in China by Alibaba Pictures in early 2016 (under the original title The Little Door Gods), the film is being re-voiced in English by The Weinstein Co.

The Weinstein Co. acquired worldwide rights, with the exception of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, for the film.

The original movie follows the comedic adventures of two “door guardians” — figures from Chinese folklore who protect the entranceway of one’s home — who are out of work because contemporary Chinese people are so busy with modern consumer life that they have forgotten about the spirit world.

Gary Wang wrote and directed The Little Door Gods, which grossed $12 million during its China release in 2016.

di Pace Lands Recurring Role on Netflix’s “Fuller House”

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Pablo di Pace is expecting a full(er) house…

The 36-year-old Argentine actor, singer and director has booked a recurring role on Netflix’s Fuller House, the sequel to the popular television sitcom Full House.

The reboot will follow D.J. Tanner (Candace Cameron-Bure), a recent widow who is raising her children with the help of sister Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and best friend and fellow mother Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber).

Di Pace, who starred as Jesus Christ in NBC‘s miniseries A.D. The Bible Continues, will play Fernando, Kimmy’s (Barber) passionate ex-husband.

John Stamos, the erstwhile Uncle Jesse, is producing Fuller House, which will star Full House regulars Cameron-Bure, Lori Loughlin, Sweetin and Barber, with Stamos and Dave Coulier appearing in guest spots.

Di Pace previously appeared on another series reboot, TNT’s Dallas.

His other credits include appearances on the NBC series Camp and the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Mamma Mia!

Fuller House is scheduled to premiere on Netflix in 2016.

Trailer Released for Bonham Carter’s “Suffragette”

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

It’s women’s (rights) work for Helena Bonham Carter…

The official trailer has been released for the 49-year-old part-Spanish actress’ latest film Suffragette, co-starring Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan.

Directed by Sarah Gavron’s drama and written by Abi Morgan, the film centers on early members of the British women’s suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Inspired by true events, the film also stars Ben Whishaw, Anne-Marie Duff, Brendan Gleeson, Romola Garai, and Natalie Press.

The film debuts October 23 in New York and Los Angeles, expanding October 30 and November 6 to additional cities.

Pathé to Release Bonham Carter’s “Suffragette” in October

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Helena Bonham Carter is bringing the historic fight for women’s voting rights to the big screen in the United Kingdom…

Pathé has announced plans to release Suffragette, starring the 48-year-old part-Spanish actress, on October 30 in the UK.

From director Sarah Gavron, the drama also stars Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep. Focus Features has set Suffragette for a domestic awards season release on October 23.

The film tracks the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement as they fought for the right to vote in Britain. Radicalized and turning to violence as the only route to change, they were willing to lose everything in their fight for equality. The pic centers on Maud (Mulligan), a working wife and mother who decides she must fight for her dignity both at home and in her workplace.

With the UK’s General Election coming up on May 7, and given that nine million women failed to vote in the 2010 election, there is a major campaign under way in Britain to get women to register by the April 20 deadline. In support of the movement, Pathé has released a new teaser trailer.

“Never give up the fight,” Streep’s Emmeline Pankhurst tells Mulligan’s Maud.

Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff and Ben Whishaw also star. Abi Morgan wrote the script.

Lopez to Serve as a Presenter at the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Jennifer Lopez has a golden responsibility this weekend…

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican actress/singer and American Idol judge is among the second batch of presenters announced today by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Lopez, who received a Golden Globe nomination in 1998 for her breakout role in Selena, joins a list of presenters that includes Jennifer Aniston, Kate Beckinsale, Bryan Cranston, Jamie Dornan, Colin Firth, Jane Fonda, Harrison Ford, Bill Hader, Katherine Heigl, Dakota Johnson, Adam Levine, Matthew McConaughey, Seth Meyers, Lupita Nyong’o, Jeremy Renner, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Vince Vaughn, and Kerry Washington.

They will join previously announced presenters; Amy Adams, Adrien Brody, Robert Downey Jr., Anna Farris, Ricky Gervais, Kevin Hart, Salma Hayek, Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Pratt, Channing Tatum, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The ceremony, hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler for the third year in a row, will air on Sunday, January 11 live coast-to-coast on NBC with the pre-show from 4-5 PM (PST)/7-8 PM (EST), and main telecast from 5-8 PM (PST)/8-11 PM (EST) from the Beverly Hilton.

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