Gael García Bernal Starring in the Hitchcockian Thriller “Holland, Michigan”

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Gael García Bernal is headed to the Midwest…

The 44-year-old Mexican Golden Globe-winning actor/director will star opposite Nicole Kidman and Matthew Macfadyen in the Hitchcockian thriller Holland, Michigan.

From Prime Video, the film will be directed by Mimi Cave.

While Holland, Michigan is said to concern secrets that lurk beneath a Midwestern town, specifics as to the plot of the film scripted by Andrew Sodroski are under wraps.

Blossom Films’ Kidman and Per Saari are producing alongside Pacific View Management & Productions’ Peter Dealbert, and Churchill Films’ Kate Churchill.

The film will stream in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

Garcia Bernal is known for his performances in the films Bad Education, The Motorcycle Diaries, Amores perros, Y tu mamá también, Babel, Coco and Old.

He won a Golden Globe for his role as Rodrigo de Souza in the series Mozart in the Jungle.

Edgar Ramirez to Star on Season Two of Peacock’s Anthology Series “Dr. Death”

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Death becomes Edgar Ramirez.

The 45-year-old Venezuelan actor will star in Peacock’s Dr. Death for the anthology series’ second season.

The Emmy-nominee will portray Paolo Macchiarini, the focus of Season 2 which is based on the third season of the Wondery podcast of the same name. Macchiarini is a visionary surgeon whose innovative organ transplants seduced the global medical community. When his fiancé, Benita Alexander, and a few suspicious colleagues launch investigations into his botched surgeries, cracks start to appear in Paolo’s charming persona. As Benita learns how far Paolo will go to protect his secrets, a group of doctors halfway across the world makes shocking discoveries of their own that call everything about him into question.

Season 2 hails from showrunner, writer, and executive producer Ashley Michel Hoban. Patrick Macmanus, who served as showrunner, writer, and EP of the show’s freshman season, will executive produce Season 2 via his Littleton Road Productions banner, under his overall deal with UCP.

Jennifer Morrison and Laura Belsey will split directing duties. Morrison is set to direct episodes one to four; Belsey will direct 5-8.

Ramirez most recently portrayed Detective Joe Mendoza in the HBO miniseries The Undoing alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. He will lead the Netflix drama series Florida Man in the role of Mike Valentine.

He’s most notably known for his portrayal of Gianni Versace in Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, which earned Ramirez an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of the titular character in the miniseries Carlos in 2011.

Bobby Cannavale Signs with Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

Posted on September 21, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Bobby Cannavale is making management moves…

The 52-year-old half-Cuban American actor has signed with Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

Cannavale has moved from WME, after just opening alongside Ana De Armas at the Venice Film Festival in the Andrew Dominik-directed Blonde.

He next will star in Gracie Otto’s Seriously Red, and opposite Robert De Niro in the Tony Goldwyn-directed Inappropriate Behavior.

Cannavale has had memorable turns in projects from Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman to Boardwalk Empire, Motherless Brooklyn, I, Tonya, Ant-Man, The Station Agent and many others.

In television, Cannavale will next star in Ryan Murphy’s limited series The Watcher with Naomi Watts. He was recently seen in Hulu’s limited series Nine Perfect Strangers, alongside Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy. His other TV credits include Homecoming, Angie Tribeca, Mr. Robot, Master of None, Nurse Jackie and Vinyl.

On the stage, Cannavale is a two-time Tony Award-nominee for Mauritius and The Mother F*cher With The Hat. A member of the LAByrinth Theater Company, the New Jersey-born Cannavale last appeared on stage in the 2020 production of Medea at The Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Javier Bardem Joins Voice Cast of Animated Film “Spellbound”

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Javier Bardem is officially feelin’ the magic…

The 53-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor has joined the voice cast of the animated film Spellbound.

Led by West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler, the recently expanded voice cast also includes Bardem’s Being the Ricardos co-star Nicole Kidman, John Lithgow, Nathan Lane, Jenifer Lewis, André De Shields and Jordan Fisher.

The upcoming musical from Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation will have Kidman voicing Ellsmere, the kind and just, yet hyper-precise Queen of Lumbria, with Bardem as Lumbria’s boastful yet big-hearted King, Solon. Together, they are the parents of Princess Ellian (Zegler), who they join on her daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms them into monsters and threatens to cover Lumbria in darkness forever.

Lithgow and Lewis will voice Princess Ellian’s royal advisors, Minister Bolinar and Minister Nazara Prone, with Lane and De Shields as The Oracles of the Sun and Moon that Ellian seeks out to break the spell on her parents and the kingdom.

Additional characters aiding Ellian throughout her journey include the young nomad Callan, voiced by Fisher.

Academy Award winner Alan Menken is providing the film’s original score and songs, with song lyrics by Glenn Slater. Chris Montan is serving as executive music producer.

Bardem, who landed his fourth nom for his portrayal of Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos, recently appeared in Dune and Fernando León de Aranoa’s comedy The Good Boss.

His upcoming projects include Columbia Pictures’ adaptation of the children’s book Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid and Dune: Part Two.

Zoe Saldaña to Star in & Executive Produce the CIA Drama “Lioness”

Posted on February 17, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Zoe Saldaña is roaring into her latest role…

The 42-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress will star in Lioness, a film she will executive produce alongside Nicole Kidman and others.

Lioness is based on a real-life CIA program and follows a U.S. Marines recruited to befriend the daughter of a terrorist to bring the organization down from within.

Saldaña stars as Joe, a strong-willed, hard-nosed station chief of the CIA’s Lioness Program, who is tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives working to assassinate the world’s most dangerous terrorists.

Production on the film will begin in June.

Saldaña is best known for her work in Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek and Avatar.

Amazon Releases Trailer for Desi Arnaz & Lucille Ball Documentary “Lucy and Desi”

Posted on February 15, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Desi Arnaz’s life with Lucille Ball is getting the documentary treatment…

Amazon has unveiled the trailer for Lucy and Desi, a documentary film from director Amy Poehler.

The doc is set to debut exclusively on Prime Video on March 4, after its well-received January premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Lucy and Desi features interviews with Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, Norman Lear, Desi Arnaz Jr, Carol Burnett and Bette Midler and explores the unlikely partnership and enduring legacy of one of the most prolific power couples in entertainment history, Ball and Arnaz.

The Hollywood power couple risked everything to be together—their love for each other, leading to I Love Lucy, the most influential show in the history of television.

Desi—an immigrant from Cuba who lost everything in exile—became a bandleader, and eventually a brilliant producer and technical pioneer. Lucille came from nothing and, with an unrivaled work ethic, built a career as a model, chorus girl and eventually as an actor in the studio system. She found her calling in comedy, first in radio.

When Lucille was finally granted the opportunity to have her own television show, she insisted that her real-life spouse, Desi, be cast as her husband. Defying the odds, they reinvented the medium, on the screen and behind the cameras. The foundation of I Love Lucy was the constant rupture and repair of unconditional love. What Lucy and Desi couldn’t make work with each other, they gave to the rest of the world.

Mark Monroe wrote the film.

It’s the second in recent memory to spotlight the story of Ball and Arnaz following Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, which has been nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Actress (Kidman), Actor (Bardem) and Supporting Actor (J.K. Simmons).

Javier Bardem to Receive Maltin Modern Master Award at This Year’s Santa Barbara Film Festival

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Javier Bardem is officially a master…

The 52-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor will be honored with the prestigious Maltin Modern Master Award at the 37th annual edition of the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Bardem will be feted alongside his Being the Ricardos co-star Nicole Kidman on Thursday, March 10 when they’ll engage with veteran film historian and critic Leonard Maltin for an in-person conversation about their careers leading up to this year’s performances as Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed film from Amazon Studios.

Bardem and Kidman recently received individual SAG Award nominations in the lead actor and actress categories.

Bardem and Kidman, who have never before worked together, previously won Oscars for No Country for Old Men (2007) and The Hours (2002), respectively. Each has a long career of acclaimed performances.

“Nicole Kidman continues to challenge and reinvent herself year after year. Javier Bardem’s talent is a gift to the world. Only in Hollywood could these actors find themselves playing America’s all time favorite TV couple. It’s cause for celebration,” Maltin said.

Santa Barbara International Film Festival

The Modern Master Award was established in 1995 and is the highest accolade presented by SBIFF. Created to honor an individual who has enriched our culture through accomplishments in the motion picture industry, it was re-named the Maltin Modern Master Award in 2015 in honor of longtime SBIFF moderator and renowned film critic Leonard Maltin.

Past recipients include Bill Murray, Brad Pitt, Glenn Close, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton, Bruce Dern, Ben Affleck, Christopher Plummer, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, Cate Blanchett, Will Smith, George Clooney and Peter Jackson.

This is the first time a pair of actors will be honored together.

Other Santa Barbara tributes previously announced include Benedict Cumberbatch with the Vanguard Award, King Richard stars Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis for Outstanding Performers of the Year, Kristen Stewart for the American Riviera Award, and collectively named for Virtuoso Awards are West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose, CODA actors Emilia Jones and Troy Kotsur, Red Rocket’s Simon Rex, Licorice Pizza’s Alana Haim, and Saniyya Sidney from King Richard.

The 37th Santa Barbara Film Festival is set to take place in-person March 2-12. Official events including screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels and celebrity tributes will be held throughout the city including at the historic Arlington Theatre.

Amazon Studios Releases Extended Trailer for Javier Bardem’s Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Film “Being the Ricardos”

Posted on November 10, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Javier Bardem is embracing his moment of being a Ricardo…

Amazon Studios has released the first extended look at the 52-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor’s Desi Arnaz and Nicole Kidman’s Lucille Ball in the new trailer for Being the Ricardos.

The project is writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s peek behind the scenes of television’s pioneering sitcom I Love Lucy.

In the trailer, Ball and Arnaz are depicted at one of the couple’s many pivotal moments: This time, it’s the House Un-American Activities Committee’s investigation into Ball’s early ties to the Communist Party.

“We’ve been through worse than this,” Bardem’s Arnaz assures his wife. “We have?,” replies Kidman’s Ball in a throaty voice and with the perfect comic timing that would make Lucy a legend.

The trailer also unveils J.K. Simmons as William Frawley and Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance, and features a tense scene on the Lucy set as Ball makes her first appearance following news of the FBI investigation.

In addition to Kidman, Bardem, Simmons and Arianda, Being the Ricardos features Jake Lacy, Tony Hale and Alia Shawkat.

Amazon Studio’s Being the Ricardos opens in theaters on December 10, and premieres on Amazon Prime Video on December 21.

Javier Bardem to Star in Sony Pictures’ Film Adaptation of the Popular Children’s Book “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile”

Posted on July 10, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Javier Bardem is getting animated…

The 52-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor will star in Will Speck and Josh Gordon’s Lyle, Lyle Crocodile for Sony Pictures.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Oscar-winning songwriting team behind the music of La La Land and upcoming Dear Evan Hansen film, will reportedly write original songs for the film.

Speck and Gordon will direct with the script, based on the best-selling children’s book by Bernard Waber, being adapted by Will Davies.

First published in 1965, the venerable children’s tale centers on the title reptile, who lives in a house on East 88th Street in New York City. Lyle enjoys helping the Primm family with everyday chores, and playing with the neighborhood kids. He’s the happiest crocodile any home ever had…until one neighbor insists that Lyle belongs in a zoo. Mr. Grumps and his cat, Loretta, don’t like crocodiles, and everything Lyle does to win them over seems to go wrong. It will take all of Lyle’s charm—and courage—to reveal the hero, and friend, behind the big crocodile smile.

The film will debut on July 22, 2022.

For an actor known more for his adult roles like Biutiful and his Oscar-winning work in No Country For Old Men, the film marks his rare trek into the family-friendly genre.

But sources say Waber’s original story was very appealing to Bardem from the moment he was offered the part.

This isn’t his first dive into material meant for all ages. He’s previously played the villain in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and will play King Triton in Disney’s live action adaptation of its acclaimed animated film The Little Mermaid.

When it comes to adult roles, Bardem’s upcoming slate includes Legendary’s Dune, Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss (El Buen Patron) and Aaron Sorkin’s Being The Ricardos, where he plays Desi Arnaz, opposite Nicole Kidman’s Lucille Ball.

Hulu Releases New Trailer for “Nine Perfect Strangers,” Starring Bobby Cannavale

Posted on June 13, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a strange(r) time for Bobby Cannavale…

Hulu has released a new teaser for Nine Perfect Strangers, the upcoming eight-episode “elevated suspense drama” starring the 51-year-old half-Cuban American Emmy-winning actor.

In addition to Cannavale, the series also stars Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Regina Hall, Samara Weaving, Melvin Gregg, Asher Keddie, Grace Van Patten, Tiffany Boone and Manny Jacinto.

Based on the book by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers takes place at a boutique health-and-wellness resort that promises healing and transformation as nine stressed city dwellers try to get on a path to a better way of living. Watching over them during this 10-day retreat is the resort’s director, Masha (Kidman), a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies.

As Hulu describes, these nine perfect strangers have no idea what is about to hit them. And as depicted in the teaser, graves will be dug.

The series comes from co-showrunners David E. Kelley and John-Henry Butterworth. Jonathan Levine directs all eight episodes.

The series is co-written by David E. Kelley, John Henry Butterworth and Samantha Strauss.

Nine Perfect Strangers premieres on Hulu on August 18.

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