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.

Blahnik to be the Subject of a Documentary Film

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Manolo Blahnik and his shoes are made for walking right onto the big screen…

The 73-year-old Spanish fashion designer will be the subject of a documentary titled Manolo (The boy who made shoes for lizards).

The film about the fashion sensation, whose first name became a cultural reference point after frequent shout-outs on HBO’s Sex and the City, will be directed by Michael Roberts.

It’s being dubbed as an in-depth portrait of the man who is regarded as a genius by some of the most revered figures in fashion and will offer a behind-the-scenes peek into his fabulous world.

Manolo will feature interviews with a who’s who of some of the most notable figures in fashion and entertainment, including Anna Wintour, Rihanna, Andre Leon Talley, Paloma Picasso, Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, Charlotte Olympia, Iman, Jamie Preto, Naomi Campbell, David Bailey, Isaac Mizrahi, Joan Burnstein, Mary Beard, Colin McDowell, Penelope Tree, Prince of Lampedusa, Rupert Everett and Blahnik himself.

Production on the doc is currently underway.

Content Media has acquired worldwide sales rights to the film and will begin introducing Manolo next month during the European Film Market in Berlin.

“Manolo Blahnik is fashion royalty and the king of his craft,” Content Media film president Jamie Carmichael said Wednesday in a statement. “He also happens to be a wonderfully colorful and fascinating man, with a unique world view. Michael Roberts is a director with unparalleled access and understanding of the fashion world and the combination of both these golden elements will make for fabulous and fascinating cinema.”

For more than 40 years, Blahnik has been designing his shoe line, which has attracted a devoted following including the likes of Nicole Kidman, Rihanna and the Duchess of Cambridge.

Rapace to Star as Maria Callas in Biopic About the Opera Singer

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

There’s a legendary role in Noomi Rapace’s future …

The 35-year-old half-Spanish actress has signed on to portray iconic opera singer Maria Callas in the feature biopic Callas.

Niki Caro is attached to direct the film from a screenplay she adapted from Alfonso Signorini’s biography Too Proud, Too Fragile.

The biopic focuses on the passionate relationship between the diva and Aristotle Onassis, which spanned almost two decades.

This is a long-gestating project that resurfaced at the Cannes Film Festival last year, before Rapace and Content’s involvement.

Rapace, who most recently joined SND’s What Happened To Monday?, is the latest Latina actress to portray the opera singer.

Spanish actress Paz Vega appeared as Callas in 2014’s Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman.

Bündchen Named the New Face of Chanel No. 5

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a scentsational new endorsement deal for Gisele Bündchen…

The 33-year-old Brazilian supermodel has been selected as the new face of the iconic scent Chanel No. 5, according to the French fashion house.

Bündchen will star in the company’s new beauty advertising campaign, which is set to be released later this year. The campaign will be directed by Baz Luhrmann, who also directed the 2004 commercial starring Nicole Kidman.

Audrey Tautou and Brad Pitt have also fronted for the famed fragrance.

Chanel No. 5 was the first perfume launched by French couturier Gabrielle “Coco ” Chanel.

It’s the latest endorsement deal for Bündchen. She’s currently a brand ambassador for Pantene and H&M.

Vega Stuns as Maria Callas in the New Trailer for Nicole Kidman’s “Grace of Monaco”

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Nicole Kidman may star as Grace Kelly in Grace of Monaco, but Paz Vega shines bright as late opera legend Maria Callas.

In the just-released extended trailer for the Olivier Dahan-directed film, the 38-year-old Spanish actress briefly (and stunningly) appears as the legendary soprano singer, considered one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century.

Set in 1962, six years after her celebrated Wedding of the Century, “Grace of Monaco” is an intimate snapshot of a year in the life of the twentieth century’s most iconic Princess – Grace Kelly – as she strived to reconcile her past and her present, a yearning for a return to the big screen with her newfound role as a mother of two, monarch of a European principality and wife to Prince Ranier III.

Grace of Monaco, set in 1962, is an intimate snapshot of a year in the life of the twentieth century’s most iconic princess as she strived to reconcile her past and her present, a yearning for a return to the big screen with her newfound role as a mother of two, monarch of a European principality and wife to Prince Ranier III (portrayed by Tim Roth).

The trailer shows some of the struggles the former Hollywood star faced over her role as Princess Grace.

Along with Kidman, Vega and Roth, the film also stars Frank Langella, Derek Jacobi, Parker Posey and Milo Ventimiglia.

The movie will have its world premiere as the opening-night film at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14. It also gets released in France on that same day.

Warner Bros. releases in the United Kingdom on June 6. The Weinstein Company will release the film in the U.S.

Amenábar to Direct Ethan Hawke in the Thriller “Regression” for The Weinstein Company

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Amenábar is partnering with The Weinstein Company-Dimension for his next project…

The film studio has acquired the U.S rights to Regression, an elevated suspense thriller to be directed by the 41-year-old Spanish-Chilean Oscar-winning director.

Amenábar returns to the English language realm with the film, starring Ethan Hawke, which is set in 1980 in a small Minnesota town where a man is arrested for sexually abusing his daughter. He admits his guilt despite having no memory of it. With the help of a psychologist, he relives the memories and implicates a police officer as his partner in crime. The man’s estranged son and other townspeople are also suddenly able to relive suppressed memories of horrific abuse. At the same time, the local news reports blame a Satanic cult that has been performing rituals of orgies, assault, killing animals and even babies, for years. The officers are alarmed when similar reports come in from all around the country—they believe they’ve uncovered a national and possibly supernatural conspiracy. Is the abuse real, or something else?

This marks a re-team between Amenábar, who won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004 for the Javier Bardem-starrer The Sea Inside, and Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who last worked with the helmer at Miramax on The Others, the sleeper hit thriller that starred Nicole Kidman and grossed $97 million U.S. and $210 million worldwide in 2001.

Amenábar, a nine-time Goya Award winner, has a resume that includes Tesis, Abre los ojos and Agora.

Vega to Star in “Kill the Messenger”

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Don’t blame Paz Vega if she kills the messenger…

The 37-year-old Spanish actress has joined the cast of Kill the Messenger, Focus Features’ adaptation of the true-life drama book by Nick Schou.

Vega, who makes a cameo appearance in Pedro Almodóvar’s highly anticipated comedy I’m So Excited, is joining Jeremy Renner in the film.

Michael Cuesta, who has helmed episodes of Homeland and Dexter, is directing.

Messenger tells the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb who through his reporting exposed the CIA’s involvement in helping Nicaragua’s Contra rebels import cocaine into California during the 1980s. The agency then tried to discredit him, which ultimately led to his “committing suicide,” though with two bullets to his head.

Vega will play the girlfriend of a wealthy dealer who is in jail and hopes that Webb can get him out.

Production is expected to start in Atlanta this August.

Vega will appear in Grace of Monaco as legendary opera singer Maria Callas opposite Nicole Kidman and recently wrapped Paul W.S. Anderson‘s historical drama Pompeii.

Vega to Portray Maria Callas in “Grace of Monaco”

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Paz Vega will soon be having an operatic Hollywood moment…

The 36-year-old Spanish actress will appear as the tempestuous opera singer Maria Callas in Grace of Monaco, who stars Nicole Kidman as Hollywood-actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly.

Directed by Olivier Dahan—who helmed the Edith Piaf biopic La vie en rose, which earned Marion Cotillard an Oscar— the film focuses on a six-month period in 1962 when Monaco was in a dispute with France and Princess Grace worked behind the scenes to prevent a coup. At the time, Grace came to know Callas, who was having an affair with Greek millionaire Aristotle Onassis.

It’s Vega’s latest high-profile film project. She’s also set to appear in Pedro Almodovar’s upcoming, re-titled comedy, I’m So Excited.

The Artist’s Bejo a Cinema Vanguard…

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Tom Castaneda

She steals the spotlight in the critically acclaimed The Artist… And, now Bérénice Bejo is reaping the rewards of her show-stopping performance in the silent film.

The 35-year-old Argentine actress and her co-star Jean Dujardin will receive the Cinema Vanguard Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Set in 1927 Hollywood, The Artist—which has already garnered plenty of pre-Oscar buzz—centers around silent movie star George Valentin, who wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion as he sparks a relationship with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

“We are grateful to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for this incredible honor,” remarked Dujardin. “Delivering a silent film to the 21stcentury is no easy task, and it would have in no way been possible without the talent and dedication of the incredible ensemble of actors we had the pleasure of working with: James Cromwell, John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle and Malcom McDowell. This award is just as much for them as it is for us.”

The award was established to recognize actors who’ve forged their own path by taking artistic risks and making significant and unique contributions to film.

Previous award recipients include Nicole Kidman, Vera Farmiga, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Gosling.

Bejo, who has previously appeared in A Knight’s Tale, will receive her award at a special tribute event on Saturday, February 4, 2012. Meanwhile, the film festival will run from January 26 – February 5, 2012.

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