Martin to Star in Ryan Murphy’s FX Limited Series “Versace: American Crime Story”

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Ricky Martin is bracing for a life of American Crime…

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican singer/actor has been cast in Versace: American Crime Story, the third installment in the FX limited series from Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson.

Martin, who starred on ABC’s General Hospital back in 1994-1995, will co-star opposite Édgar Rarmirez, Penélope Cruz and Darren Criss.

The 10-episode Versace examines the shocking July 1997 assassination of Gianni Versace (Ramirez) on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by sociopath and serial killer Andrew Cunanan (Criss).

Martin will play Versace’s longtime partner Antonio D’Amico; Cruz plays Versace’s sister Donatella.

This is a reunion for Martin and Murphy, who first cast the Latin music superstar in an episode of his Fox series Glee.

Versace, from Fox 21 and FX Productions, is based on the book Vulgar Favors by Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth.

Tom Rob Smith is writing the first two and multiple subsequent episodes, and Murphy, who received an Emmy nomination for directing the opening episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson, will direct the first hour.

Versace will begin production later this month in Los Angeles and Miami for a 2018 premiere. It will follow the second installment in the franchise, Katrina: American Crime Story.

American Crime Story’s core producing team — Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, all Emmy winners for People v O.J. Simpson as Best Limited Series — executive produce Versace alongside Smith.

Martin has sold more than 70 million albums and has done runs on Broadway in Evita and Les Miserables. The “Livin’ la Vida Loca” singer’s most recent 10th studio album, 2015’s A Quien Quiera Escuchar, won Best Latin Pop Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards.

A dedicated global advocate for tolerance via his Ricky Martin Foundation, Martin can be seen in Las Vegas at his residency at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.

Cruz to Portray Donatella Versace in Ryan Murphy’s “Versace: American Crime Story”

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Penélope Cruz will be making her U.S. television debut in style…

The 42-year-old Spanish actress will star as Donatella Versace, the sister of murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace, in Versace: American Crime Story, the third installment in the Emmy-winning anthology series from Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson.

Donatella is a central character in Versace, with the role attracting A-list actresses looking to work with Murphy.

Cruz will star opposite Edgar Ramirez and Darren Criss in the 10-episode limited series, which examines the shocking July 1997 assassination of Gianni (Ramirez) on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by sociopath and serial killer Andrew Cunanan (Criss).

Versace, from Fox 21 and FX Productions., is based on the book Vulgar Favors by Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth. Tom Rob Smith is writing the first two and multiple subsequent episodes, and Murphy, who received an Emmy nomination for directing the opening episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson, will direct the first hour.

Versace will begin production in April in Los Angeles and Miami for a 2018 premiere. It will follow the second installment in the franchise, Katrina: American Crime Story.

This marks the U.S. television debut for Cruz, who won an Oscar in 2009 for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In 2016, she finished production on Escobar and Murder on the Orient Express.

Jaenada Starring in Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar Jaenada is chasing windmills…

The 41-year-old Spanish actor has landed a role in Terry Gilliam’s long-delayed film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

Oscar Jaenada

Jaenada, who gained acclaimed for portraying Mexican comedic legend Cantinflas in a biopic of the same name, joins a cast that includes Adam Driver and Olga Kurylenko.

The film centers on an advertising executive who returns to his Spanish village, where as a student he made a film based on Don Quixote, only to get entangled in a series of catastrophes.

Gilliam co-wrote the script with Tony Grisoni and Amazon Studios will distribute the film domestically.

Jaenada’s upcoming film slate includes Fox’s Snatched with Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn and the Fernando Leon de Aranoa-directed biopic Escobar, opposite Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Trailer Released for Cruz’s “The Queen of Spain”

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Prepare to be royally impressed by Penélope Cruz…

The official trailer has been released for Fernando Trueba’s The Queen of Spain, starring the 42-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress.

Ricardo Mario, Darin Bas, and Antonio Fernandez Resines also star in this film about Spanish actress Macarena Granada, who returns home to Spain in the mid-1950s having enjoyed a successful career in Hollywood.

She is to play Queen Isabella the First of Castille in a prestigious period drama. At the studio she meets her former friends and colleagues, falls in love with a handsome crew member, leads a madcap expedition to free a resistance fighter and proves herself to be truly regal during an encounter with the fascist leader Francisco Franco, whom she despises.

The Queen of Spain will premiere on February 13 as part of the Berlinale Special Series at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Cruz Attached to Star in Todd Solondz’s New Project “Love Child”

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Penélope Cruz is getting ready for Child’s play…

The 42-year-old Spanish actress is attached to star in Todd Solondz’s new project Love Child.

Cruz would star opposite Edgar Ramírez, who starred in the Roberto Duran boxing biopic Hands of Stone.

Solondz, the man behind Wiener Dog and Welcome To The Dollhouse, writes and directs the project, which is described as a dark and hilarious twist on the classic Oedipal theme.

The story follows 11-year-old Junior, a delusional aspiring Broadway star with an inappropriate obsession with his mother Immaculada. After orchestrating an accident that nearly kills his abusive father, he encourages Nacho, the handsome man living in the family’s guesthouse, to court his mother and become his new dad. But when the two fall in love, Junior becomes so jealous that he is no longer the subject of his mother’s attention that he hatches a plan to frame Nacho for his father’s murder.

The film is currently in pre-production.

Cruz recently joined the cast of Kenneth Branagh’s Murder On The Orient Express, based on Agatha Christie’s beloved murder mystery novel. She’ll join an ensemble cast including Michael Peña, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Judi Dench. She’s also in Escobar with husband Javier Bardem in a film that examines the love affair between drug lord Pablo Escobar and Colombian journalist Virginia Vallejo.

Ramirez recently starred alongside Emily Blunt in The Girl On The Train, adapted from Paula Hawkins’ bestselling book, and Gold with Matthew McConaughey, the adventure mining story. He’s also got a role in Netflix’s sci-fi pic Bright with Will Smith and Noomi Rapace.

Almodóvar to Serve as Jury President at This Year’s Cannes Film Festival

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodóvar is taking a special role at this year’s Cannes Film Festival…

The 67-year-old Spanish film director, screenwriter, producer has been named the next President of the Jury for the 70^th edition of the festival in May.

“I am very happy to be able to celebrate Cannes Film Festival[‘s] 70^th anniversary from such a privileged position,” said Almodóvar in a statement. “I am grateful, honoured and bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.”

Almodóvar has a film career that spans across 35 years and his 20 films range from From Pepi, Luci, Born to La Mancha to last year’s Julieta.

He’s worked with a range of actors including Penélope Cruz, Marisa Paredes, Antonio Banderas, Rossy de Palma, Javier Bardem, Javier Cámara, Carmen Maura and Victoria Abril.

Five of his films – All About My Mother, Volver, Broken Embraces, The Skin I Live In and Julieta – have been selected In Competition in Cannes. Bad Education opened the fest in 2004 while the director himself featured on the poster of the 60^th festival.

“For its 70^th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist,” said the President of the Festival, Pierre Lescure and Delegate-General Thierry Frémaux. “A long and loyal friendship binds Pedor Almodóvar to the festival, where he was member of the jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu.”

The Cannes Film Festival runs May 17-28.

Garcia-Rulfo to Star in “Murder On The Orient Express” Remake

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is about to Express himself…

The 35-year-old Mexican actor has been cast in Fox’s Murder On The Orient Express, the remake based on Agatha Christie classic novel to be directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Garcia-Rulfo, who will portray Marquez, joins an all-star cast that includes Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Michael Peña, Josh Gad and Leslie Odom Jr. as well as Branagh.

Garcia-Rulfo, who made his first major American film with Bless Me, Ultima, last starred in Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven. He also recently completed shooting on Soldado.

His other credits include appearance in the film Cake and in the television series From Dusk till Dawn: The Series.

Cruz to Star in “Murder on the Orient Express” Remake

Posted on November 12, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Penelope Cruz has to Orient herself with a new project…

The 42-year-old Spanish actress is set to star in the Murder on the Orient Express remake.

Cruz joins a powerful ensemble cast that includes Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Michael Pena, Judi Dench and Josh Gad along with Kenneth Branagh, who is starring as detective Hercule Poirot and also directing the film.

Based on the beloved 1934 Agatha Christie novel, the mystery begins after an American businessman is murdered aboard the train and the investigator tries to solve the murder, finding out eventually that 13 people all had something to do with the murder victim.

Cruz is currently shooting Escobar with husband Javier Bardem in the movie that examines the love affair between the drug lord Pablo Escobar and Colombian journalist Virginia Vallejo.

Bardem & Cruz to Star in Pablo Escobar/Virginia Vallejo Film “Escobar”

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are joining forces on screen…

The 47-year-old Spanish actor and his 42-year-old Spanish actress wife, both Oscar winners, are set to star in Escobar.

Written and directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa, the film is based on a true story of the unlikely relationship between notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and his polar opposite, the upscale television host Virginia Vallejo, which she detailed in her book Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar.

Dean Nichols and Bardem are producing.

Cruz and Bardem, who got their start on the big screen together more than two decades ago in the low-budget 1992 Spanish comedy/drama film Jamon, Jamon, starred in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which Cruz won a best supporting actress Oscar.

They were back on the same film set once again in Ridley Scott’s The Counselor.

Cruz & Bardem to Star in Biopic About Colombian Drug Cartel Kingpin Pablo Escobar

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have found their latest joint venture…

The 41-year-old Spanish actress and her 46-year-old Spanish actor husband, considered a power couple in Hollywood, have signed on to star in Escobar, the latest film about the rise of Colombian drug cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar for Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp.

The biopic will be based on Virginia Vallejo’s 2008 Spanish-language memoir Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar.

Vallejo is the Colombian journalist whose career came to a halt in the mid-1990s after it was revealed she had a romantic relationship with Escobar in the mid-’80s. She published her memoir in 2007 and she had to seek asylum in the U.S. three years later, according to her website.

Fernando León de Aranoa will pen the adaptation and direct the pic, which is ramping up now for a production start sometime this year.

Bardem and León de Aranoa previously collaborated on 2002’s Spanish-language Mondays in the Sun.

EuropaCorp will finance, distribute and co-produce Escobar with Pinguin Films and Dean Nichols Productions.

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