Ismael Cruz Cordova to Star in Amazon MGM Studios’ Forthcoming Film “The Bluff”

Ismael Cruz Cordova is bluffing…

The 37-year-old Afro-Puerto Rican actor will star in Amazon MGM Studios’ forthcoming film The Bluff from director Frank E. Flowers.

Ismael Cruz CordovaCruz Cordova, who starred in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is part of a roster of new cast additions that includes Safia Oakley-Green and Vedanten Naidoo.

The trio joins an ensemble led by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Karl Urban.

The parts they’ll be playing are under wraps.

Written by Flowers and Joe Ballarini, the film set in the 19th century Caribbean follows a former female pirate (Chopra Jonas) who must protect her family when the mysterious sins of her past catch up to her.

Recently landing a Critics’ Choice Award nomination for his performance as Arondir on Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which is heading into its second season, Cordova has also previously been seen in Paramount+’s Finestkind, HBO’s miniseries The Undoing, Focus Features’ Mary Queen of Scots and Sony’s remake of Miss Bala.

Diego Luna & Gael García Bernal to Executive Produce “The Boys” Offshoot, “The Boys: Mexico”

Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal are bringing the boys south of the border

The 43-year-old Mexican actor, director and producer and the 44-year-old Mexican Golden Globe-winning actor and producer will executive produce and possibly appear in acting roles in The Boys: Mexico, a new series offshoot of The Boys from Blue Beetle writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer.

Gael García Bernal & Diego LunaDetails regarding the premise of the series are being kept under wraps.

A search is currently underway for a co-showrunner to join creator, writer and executive producer Dunnet-Alcocer, who is now working on the script.

The team behind The Boys: Mexico, which will be shot in the Latin American country, is working on budgets for the new series and they have yet to begin casting, sources said.

The Mexico-set offshoot comes from the main creative auspices behind the other series in The Boys franchise, the mothership’s developer Eric Kripke and his Kripke Enterprises, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures, Neil H. Moritz’s Original Film, Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios. Loreli Alba is expected to oversee for Point Grey.

The Boys, based on the New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, shares a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes—who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians, and as revered as gods—abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. Intent on stopping the corrupt superheroes, The Boys, a group of vigilantes, continue their heroic quest to expose the truth about The Seven and Vought—the multibillion-dollar conglomerate that manages the superheroes and covers up their dirty secrets. It’s the seemingly powerless against the super-powerful.

Following the breakout success of The Boys, which is headed to Season 4, two spinoff series were released in 2023: the animated The Boys Presents: Diabolical, which premiered in March, and the college-set spinoff Gen V, which recently concluded its first season and has been renewed for Season 2.

The Boys: Mexico is the latest project hailing from rising star Dunnet-Alcocer, who penned the screenplay for the Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Studios superhero feature film, Blue Beetle. Most recently, he wrote the screenplay for Sony’s El Muerto from director Jonás Cuarón. The Queretaro, Mexico native also wrote and executive produced Miss Bala in 2019. Additionally, Dunnet-Alcocer is attached as screenwriter of the Universal Pictures’ reimagination of Scarface.

Luna and García Bernal are veteran actors whose careers exploded following their collaboration in the hit 2001 Spanish-language feature Y Tu Mamá También directed by Alfonso Cuarón. They have reunited multiple times since then including in Rudo y Cursi (2008) and Casa de Mi Padre (2012).

Most recently Luna joined the Star Wars universe in the Disney+ TV series Andor, a prequel to Star Wars: Rogue One.

García Bernal most recently starred in the Amazon bio-drama Cassandro portraying the titular gay wrestler born Saúl Armendáriz.

The longtime friends and collaborators became producing partners in 2018 under their La Corriente del Golfo banner. Recent projects they produced include the aforementioned Cassandro and the series Pan y Circo hosted by Luna, both for Amazon.

ABC Renews Gina Rodriguez’s “Not Dead Yet” for Second Season

Gina Rodriguez’s latest starring project is still alive…

ABC has renewed the hit workplace comedy series Not Dead Yet, starring the 38-year-old Puerto Rican Golden Globe-winning actress, for a second season.

Gina RodriguezFrom creators David Windsor and Casey JohnsonNot Dead Yet is based on Alexandra Potter’s 2020 book Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up.

It follows Nell Serrano (Rodriguez), a broke and newly single self-described disaster, working to restart the life and career she left behind 10 years ago. When she lands the only job she can find – writing obituaries – Nell starts getting life advice from an unlikely source.

Johnson and Windsor executive produce with Rodriguez, Dean Holland, Wonderland Sound and Vision’s McG, Mary Viola and Corey Marsh.

The series is produced by 20th Television, part of Disney TV Studios.

Rodriguez rose to acclaim while starring on CW’s Jane the Virgin. Her other credits include Someone Great, Miss Bala and I Want You Back.

William Morris Endeavor (WME) Signs Gina Rodriguez & Her Production Company

It’s a new endeavor for Gina Rodriguez

William Morris Endeavor (WME) has signed the 36-year-old Puerto Rican actress and her production company I Can and I Will Productions, run by Molly Breeskin, in all areas.

Gina Rodriguez

The Golden Globe-winning former Jane the Virgin star was previously at Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

Rodriguez played the title role in the CW series Jane the Virgin for 100 episodes, winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Series Musical or Comedy in 2015.

Rodriguez recently starred in the Focus Features title Kajillionaire opposite Evan Rachel Wood and Richard Jenkins. The Miranda July directed feature made its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Rodriguez’s upcoming projects include the Netflix film Awake and the miniseries Lost Ollie for the streamer.

She has starred in Sony/Screen Gems’ Miss Bala and the Netflix feature Someone Great, a film in which she also served as a producer.

Her voice can be heard in the title role of Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego, and she also had starring voiceovers in Twentieth Century Fox/Blue Sky’s Ferdinand, Warner Brothers’ Smallfoot and Scoob, and Sony’s The Star.

In addition to her acting career, the native Chicagoan and NYU Tisch School alum is a driving force for inclusion and the empowerment of women in all ways, particularly in the entertainment industry. This passion led her to create her production company, I Can and I Will Productions, with a mission directly reflecting her commitment to create art and tell stories from those who are traditionally unseen and unheard.

The company has finished its second season of Diary of a Future President where Rodriguez directed, produced, and performed as the future president.

With her family, she established the We Will Foundation, which aims to uplift and champion underprivileged youth through arts, education, scholarship funding, and financial literacy.

Angel Manuel Soto to Direct DC Films & Warner Bros.’ “Blue Beetle,” Featuring the First Latino Superhero

Angel Manuel Soto is feelin’ blue

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto is set to direct DC Films and Warner Bros.’ Blue Beetle, the first superhero film that will be led by a Latino character.

Angel Manuel Soto

Created by Charles Wojtkowski for Fox Comics in 1939, the character Blue Beetle has had a number of superhero alter egos, but the film is said to focus on Jaime Reyes who was first introduced in 2006. As the Blue Beetle, the Mexican-American teen from El Paso is known for his high-tech alien armor.

Miss Bala scribe Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, who also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Scarface reboot, penned the script for Blue Beetle.

Soto directed the 2020 drama Charm City Kings, which has its premiere at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and is currently available to stream on HBO Max.

Gina Rodriguez to Star Opposite Zachary Levi in the Comedy Adventure “Lost and Found”

Gina Rodriguez has (lost &) found her next project…

The 36-year-old Golden Globe-winning Puerto Rican actress and former Jane the Virgin star is set to star in Amazon Studios’ comedy adventure Lost and Found.

Gina Rodriguez

Rodriguez will star opposite Zachary Levi, with Steve Pink set to direct. Pink and Jeff Morris wrote the script, about a headstrong lawyer and an off-the-grid renegade who reluctantly team up to find a long-lost buried treasure by the Mississippi River.

Levi is producing through his Wyldwood Studios along with Rodriguez and Molly Breeskin under their banner I Can and I Will Productions, and Pink through his Pink Machine banner.

Rodriguez most recently starred in Kajillionaire for Focus Features, the Netflix rom-com Someone Great and Scoob! 

Her past past films include Deepwater Horizon, Ferdinand, Annihilation and the Miss Bala remake.

She voices the title character in the Netflix animated action-adventure series Carmen San Diego and is producer of the Disney+ series Diary of a Future President.

Cristina Rodlo to Star in the Horror Film “No One Gets Out Alive”

Cristina Rodlo isn’t gettin’ out alive…

The 30-year-old Mexican actress has been cast opposite Marc Menchaca in the film adaptation of Adam Nevill’s horror novel No One Gets Out Alive.

Cristina Rodlo

The project hails from Netflix and Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish’s Imaginarium Productions.

Rodlo, who starred in Miss Bala, and Menchaca, who appeared in The Outsider, have been set as leads in the story of an immigrant in search of the American Dream who, after being forced to take a room in a boarding house, finds herself in a nightmare she can’t escape.

Jon Croker and Fernanda Coppel penned the script and Santiago Menghini has been sent to helm, his directing debut.

Filming is scheduled to begin this month in Bucharest, Romania.

Rodlo’s previous credits include the television series’ 68 Whiskey, El Vato and Too Old to Die Young.

Menchaca’s previous credits includethe television series’ Ozark, The Sinner and Manifest.

Ismael Cruz Cordova to Star in HBO’s Limited Series “The Undoing”

Ismael Cruz Cordovais Undoing things…

The 31-year-old Puerto Rican actor has been cast opposite Nicole KidmanHugh Grant and Donald Sutherland in The Undoing, HBO’s high-profile six-episode limited series written by David E. Kelleyand directed by Susanne Bier.

Ismael Cruz Cordova

An adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s book You Should Have Known, The Undoingcenters on Grace Sachs (Kidman), who is living the only life she ever wanted for herself. She’s a successful therapist, has a devoted husband (Grant) and young son (Noah Jupe) who attends an elite private school in New York City. Overnight a chasm opens in her life: a violent death, a missing husband, and, in the place of a man Grace thought she knew, only a chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster, and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and herself.

Cordova will play Fernando Alves.

The cast also includes Edgar Ramirezand Lily Rabe.

Cruz Cordova recently starred in Miss Bala for SonyMary Queen of Scots for Focus Films and Berlin Stationfor Epix

Gina Rodriguez to Star in Untitled Original Comedy from Universal Pictures 

It’s a laughing matter for Gina Rodriguez

Universal Pictures has acquired an untitled original comedy pitch from Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham, which is will be a starring vehicle for the 34-year-old Puerto Rican actress.

Gina Rodriguez

The studio is keeping the film’s plot details close to the vest.

Rodriguez rose to acclaim while starring as the title character in the series  Jane The Virgin, earning a Golden Globe for her performance.

Her first major studio starring role will be for Columbia Pictures in the Catherine Hardwicke-directed remake of Miss Bala, the 2011 thriller about a beauty pageant contestant who witnesses drug related murders and is conscripted to do the bidding of a drug cartel.

Rodriguez has also been generating projects as producer, wrapping Someone Great, another star vehicle. She will also lend her voice and produce the animated series Carmen Sandiego, which will be released by Netflix in January.

Rodriguez and Emily Gipson will produce for their I Can & I Will Productions.

St. Clair and Parham are the co-creators and stars of the USA comedy series Playing House. Along with scripting, they will be executive producers.

Ismael Cruz Córdova to Star in the Period Drama “Mary, Queen of Scots”

Great Scots! Ismael Cruz Córdova has landed a new role…

The 30-year-old Puerto Rican actor has joined the cast of Working Title and Focus Features’ period drama Mary, Queen of Scots.

Ismael Cruz Córdova

Josie Rourke is directing the film from a script by Beau Willimon, with Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie starring.

The story explores the turbulent life of the charismatic Mary Stuart (Ronan), Queen of France at 16 and widow at 18 who defies pressure to remarry. Instead, she returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne, but Scotland and England fall under the rule of the compelling Elizabeth I.

Cordova will play the role of Rizzio, Mary’s confidant.

Production is underway in England and Scotland.

Cordova recently had a standout performance as the troubled boxer Hector Campos on Season 4 of Showtime’s Ray Donovan. He recently wrapped his role as the male lead opposite Gina Rodriguez in the Catherine Hardwicke-helmed remake Miss Bala and also appeared in Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.