Peña Cast in David O Russell’s Next Film

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Peña has lined up his next big project…

The 37-year-old Mexican American actor has been cast in director David O. Russell’s next film.

The Sony Pictures drama, which was formerly known as American Bullshit, is inspired by the true story of a notorious financial con artist and his mistress/partner in crime, who were forced to work with an overly ambitious federal agent to turn the tables on other con artists, mobsters and politicians.

Peña joins a cast that includes Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence.

The film is set for a December 13 release.

Peña, whose recent credits include a Spirit Award-nominated role in David Ayer’s End Of Watch and Gangster Squad, recently completed voice work on DreamWorks Animation’s Turbo, which is set to be released in July. He also just wrapped the Diego Luna-directed Chavez.

He has also been cast as the lead in Fox’s drama pilot The List.

Russell’s film is set for a December 13 release.

DreamWorks Animation Releases Trailer for Peña’s “Turbo”

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Peña is getting quite animated in his next motion picture…

The 37-year-old Mexican American, who recently landed a starring role in Fox’s drama pilot The List, voices the character of Tito in DreamWorks Animation’s feature film Turbo.

DreamWorks just released the first full-length trailer for the film, which features Ryan Reynolds as an ambitious garden snail who, after a freak accident, gains super speed and gets the chance to pursue his dream of racing in the Indy 500.

In addition to Reynolds and Peña, Turbo stars Luis Guzman as Tito’s brother, as well as Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Samuel L. Jackson and Snoop Dogg.

Turbo will hit theaters on July 17.

Peña Cast in Fox’s Drama Pilot “The List”

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Peña is officially on The List at Fox…

The 37-year-old Mexican American actor has landed the lead role in Fox’s drama pilot The List.

The project, from Paul Zbyszewski, Ruben Fleischer and 20th Century Fox Television, revolves around an intense deputy U.S. Marshal who must hunt down the person who stole “the list,” a file with the identities of every member of the federal witness protection program, when people on that list start getting picked off.

Peña’s character is described as a ruggedly attractive, oddly charismatic man, a notoriously quirky maverick who often gets into trouble with the bureaucracy.

Peña, who earned a 2013 Independent Spirit Award nomination for End Of Watch and starred opposite Ryan Gosling in Gangster Squad, recently wrapped up work with Ed Harris on the border drama Frontera.

He’ll next be seen portraying Cesar Chavez in the Diego Luna-directed film Chavez.

Peña’s “End of Watch” Returning to Theaters This Month

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like it isn’t exactly the End of Watch for Michael Peña’s most recent film…

The 36-year-old Mexican American actor’s End of Watch, which earned him a Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male this week, will return to movie theaters nationwide on December 7.

The reason: to give awards voters another chance to see the Los Angeles police drama written and directed by David Ayer.

End of Watch, which opened to No. 1 at the box office in September, stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a tough LA cop and Peña as his partner.

Peña Earns a Spirit Award Nomination

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Peña has the spirit…

The 36-year-old Mexican American actor has received a Spirit Award nomination in the Best Supporting Male category for his work in the police drama End of Watch.

Peña, who portrays Los Angeles police officer Mike Zavala in the film, will face off against Magic Mike’s Matthew McConaughey, Middle of Nowhere’s David Oyelowo, Seven Psychopaths’ Sam Rockwell and Moonrise Kingdom’s Bruce Willis.

Meanwhile, Aurora Guerrero has been nominated for the John Cassavetes Award, which is given to a picture made for under $500,000. The Mexican American filmmaker earned the nod for writing and directing the film Mosquita y Mari.

Nominees for the Spirit Awards are determined by its “independence” based on guidelines that include uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter and they must be made for budgets up to $20 millions.

Winners of the 2013 Spirit Awards will be announced on February 23, during the annual awards luncheon taking place in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

The ceremony will be broadcast at 10:00 pm ET on IFC.

Here’s a complete look at the 2013 Spirit Award nominees:

Best Feature

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Bernie
Keep the Lights On
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director

Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Julia Loktev- The Loneliest Planet
Ira Sachs – Keep the Lights On
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Screenplay

Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs – Keep the Lights On
Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh – Seven Psychopaths

Best First Feature

Fill the Void
Gimme the Loot
Safety Not Guaranteed
Sound of My Voice
The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Best First Screenplay

Rama Burshtein – Fill the Void
Derek Connolly – Safety Not Guaranteed
Christopher Ford – Robot & Frank
Rashida Jones & Will McCormack – Celeste and Jesse Forever
Jonathan Lisecki – Gayby

John Cassavetes Award (given to best picture made for under $500K)

Breakfast with Curtis
Middle of Nowhere
Mosquita y Mari
Starlet
The Color Wheel

Best Female Lead

Linda Cardinelli – Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Smashed

Best Male Lead

Jack Black – Bernie
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce – Four
Thure Lindhardt – Keep the Lights On

Best Supporting Female

Rosemarie DeWitt – Your Sister’s Sister
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Brit Marling – Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussant – Middle of Nowhere

Best Supporting Male

Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
David Oyelowo – Middle of Nowhere
Michael Pena – End of Watch
Sam Rockwell – Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis – Moonrise Kingdom

Best Cinematography

Yoni Brook – Valley of Saints
Lol Crawley – Here
Ben Richardson – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov – End of Watch
Robert Yeoman – Moonrise Kingdom

Best Documentary

How to Survive a Plague
Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present
The Central Park Five
The Invisible War
The Waiting Room

Best International Film

Amour
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Rust and Bone
Sister
War Witch

Piaget ProduPcers Award

Nobody Walks
Prince Avalanche
Stones in the Sun

Someone to Watch Award

Pincus
Gimme the Loot
Electrick Children

Truer Than Fiction Award

Leviathan
The Waiting Room
Only the Young

Robert Altman Award

Starlet

Ferrera Returning to Off Broadway…

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

It’s bye, bye Betty… and Hello, Bethany for America Ferrera…

The 28-year-old Honduran American actress will be returning to Off Broadway this season to play the lead in Bethany.

Written by Laura Marks, the dark comedy is set in an American community hit hard by foreclosures and economic woes, the play revolves around a woman who tests the limits of her own morality as she scrambles to regain her financial footing.

Produced by Women’s Project Theater, the world premiere will be directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch.

The play is scheduled to run January 11-February 17, 2013 at New York City Center Stage II.

The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning star of ABC‘s Ugly Betty’s last Off Broadway project was in the satirical Peanuts riff Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead back in 2005. Ferrera recently did an eight-week stint as Roxie Hart in Chicago on London’s West End.

Ferrera’s latest projects include appearing with Michael Peña in End of Watch, She’ll next appear opposite Peña in the Diego Luna-directed biopic, Chavez, playing the wife of Latin American civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.

Peña Featured in Latest “Gangster Squad” Trailer

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Peña could have another blockbuster on his hands…

The 36-year-old Mexican American actor appears in the just released trailer for his latest drama Gangster Squad

Immediately after the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, Warner Bros. pulled the original trailer, which featured a scene of gangsters rushing into a theater and gunning down moviegoers.

The original trailer was run prior to showing of The Dark Knight Rises, which was screening in the auditorium where the Colorado tragedy took place.

Warner Bros. even pushed back the film’s release from September 7 to January 11 to put some distance between the theater tragedy and Gangster Squad’s opening, as well as allow Warner Bros to cut the offending scene and film a new version in a different setting.

Peña’s Arresting New Trailer for “End of Watch” Released

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

It’s the end of watch for Michael Peña… And now you’re invited to go along for the ride.

The latest trailer for End of Watch shines a spotlight on the bromance between the 36-year-old Mexican American actor and his co-star Jake Gyllenhaal.

The just released clip is packed with violent scenes featuring Peña and Gyllenhaal as their characters, young police officers Zavala and Taylor, patrol the mean streets of Los Angeles, as well as scenes of the duo discussing the importance of having a family.

End Of Watch is a powerful story of family, friendship, love, honor and courage. , Together, Zavala and Taylor patrol the streets of south central LA. Giving the story a gripping, first-person immediacy, the action unfolds through footage from the handheld HD cameras used by the police officers, gang members and citizens caught in the crossfire. Together they create a riveting portrait of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods, the cops who risk their lives there every day and the price they and their families are forced to pay.

Anna Kendrick, America Ferrera, Natalie Martinez, Cody Horn and Frank Grillo round out the ensemble cast.

The R-rated film, directed and written by David Ayer, is slated for a September 21 release.

Peña Appears in New “Gangster Squad” Trailer

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Peña’s about to go all gangsta…

The 36-year-old Mexican American actor is set to appear in the highly anticipated film Gangster Squad.

As seen in the just-released trailer, the upcoming crime film chronicles the Los Angeles Police Department’s fight to keep Mickey Cohen and the east coast mafia out of LA in the 1940s and 1950s.

Peña, who will be starring as Cesar Chavez in a biopic about the legendary Latino labor leader and civil rights activist, portrays detective Navidad Ramirez in Gangster Squad.

Along with Peña, the cast includes Sean Penn as Cohen, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Mireille Enos, Anthony Mackie, Nick Nolte and Giovanni Ribisi.

The film is set to be released on September 7, 2012 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Pena Going on Patrol in “End of Watch”

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Pena will be going on patrol this fall…

The 36-year-old Mexican American actor will be starring opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in the dramatic film End of Watch.

Gyllenhaal plays Officer Taylor, a Los Angeles cop who patrols the toughest parts of the city with his partner, Officer Zavala, played by Pena. They’re described as young, brash and really good at their jobs, which leads to a certain ego-driven bravery that leads them into a gang den — and into the center of its bulls eye.

Written and directed by David Ayers, the movie isn’t just a cop film; it also focuses on both Gyllenhaal and Pena’s young families. Anna Kendrick plays Gyllenhaal’s wife, while America Ferrara and Cody Horn play officers as well.\

Pena, who will be playing labor leader Cesar Chavez in his next project, is best known for his roles in Crash, World Trade Center, Observe and Report and Tower Heist.

End of Watch film opens in theaters on September 28.

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