Garcia Bogliano to Direct the Swedish-Language Supernatural Thriller “Svart Cirkel”

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a Swede deal for Adrian Garcia Bogliano…

The 35-year-old Spanish filmmaker is set to direct Svart Cirkel (Black Circle), a Swedish-language supernatural thriller starring Swedish icon Christina Lindberg, Quentin Tarantino’s inspiration for Kill Bill, through her role in 1973 Swedish cult classic thriller They Call Her One-Eye.

Black Circle centers on two sisters whose lives change dramatically after going through hypnosis using a mysterious vinyl album recorded in the 1970s.

“This is finally my opportunity to work with Christina Lindberg who has been one of my favorite actresses for many years,” said Bogliano. “She has an incredible presence and we’re getting an amazing cast and unique locations, that will make this movie something very different from anything you’ve seen from Swedish genre films.”

Garcia Bogliano, formerly Argentina-based, but now working out of Mexico, was a 2012 Austin Fantastic Fest five-prize winner with the Spanish-language film Here Comes the Devil.

A genre-auteur, Garcia Bogliano’s Black Circle is the latest genre, geographic and language permutation for the director whose English-language U.S. war vet/werewolf tale Late Phases bowed at 2014’s SXSW, while Scherzo Diabolico weighed in as a black comedy about a separating and out-of-work accountant’s kidnapping a teen girl, who proves his worst nightmare.

Black Circle’s cast also features award-winning Swedish actors such as Mathilda Paradeiser, Hanna and Erica Midfjäll, Madeleine Trollvik and singer Johan Palm.

LACMA to Honor González Iñárritu at This Year’s Art + Film Gala

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro González Iñárritu is being feted for his “daring and nimble vision”…

The 51-year-old Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker will be honored alongside light and space artist James Turrell at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s fifth Art + Film Gala on November 7.

LACMA trustee Eva Chow and actor Leonardo DiCaprio will once again co-chair the annual fundraiser presented by Gucci.

“In only a few years, LACMA’s Art + Film Gala has established its reputation for honoring artists and filmmakers whose impact can be felt worldwide and that have particular relevance to Los Angeles, and James Turrell and Alejandro G. Inarritu certainly fit that bill,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg director, who further elaborated on the selections.

“In the last two decades, Inarritu has displayed a daring and nimble vision for films including Birdman and Babel; his work has rightly garnered the highest of critical acclaim.”

González Iñárritu won three golden statuettes as the 87th Academy Awards for Birdman, becoming the first-ever three-time Latino Oscar winner in history.

His five feature films – Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006), Biutiful (2010) and Birdman (2014) – have garnered wide acclaim.

Past honorees include Barbara Kruger, Quentin Tarantino, David Hockney, Martin Scorsese, Ed Ruscha and Stanley Kubrick.

“The Art + Film Gala is now an annual highlight and brings together figures from the worlds of art, cinema, fashion and music to support the museum,” said longtime supporter and fashion designer Chow. “It’s a real honor and my pleasure to welcome two such unique and greatly talented artists whose work moves and inspires me deeply. And I am thrilled to co-chair this important fundraiser with Leonardo DiCaprio, whose support for this initiative is so critical.”

Funds from the Art + Film Gala support LACMA’s growing mission to make film a more prominent aspect of the museum’s programming, by way of exhibitions, educational sessions and screenings that explore how the film and art worlds converge.

Mars to Receive Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

There’s no denying Bruno Mars’ star power… And now he’ll have an iconic plaque to prove it.

The 29-year-old part-Puerto Rican singer-songwriter is among the celebrities whose names will be added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced its class of 2016, with a list that includes Adam Levine, Cyndi Lauper, Quentin Tarantino and actors Steve Carell, Bradley Cooper, Ashley Judd, Michael Keaton and Kurt Russell.

Entertainers are recognized in five categories: motion picture, television, radio, recording and live theater/live performance. Each recipient is responsible for their star’s $30,000 cost of installation and they have two years to schedule star ceremonies from the date of selection before they expire.

Mars, a two-time Grammy-winner who was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, in 2011, is being recognized in the recording category.

But Mars isn’t the only Latino artist to make the 2016 list…

Angelica Maria, heralded as La Novia de México, will also receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The 70-year-old Mexican American actress and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is being recognized in the and live theater/live performance.

Individual ceremonies have not yet been scheduled.

The full list of 2016 recipients can be seen at www.walkoffame.com.

The Weinstein Company to Release Bichir’s “The Hateful Eight” on Christmas Day

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Demian Bichir is preparing for a Hateful Christmas…

The Weinstein Company has announced plans to give Quentin Tarantino’s new movie The Hateful Eight, starring the 51-year-old Mexican actor, an exclusive two-week roadshow in 70mm nationwide beginning Christmas Day.

The plan is to follow that with a digital theatrical release on January 8. The Western shoot-em-up is Tarantino’s follow-up to 2012’s Django Unchained, for which he won the Original Screenplay Oscar. That also was released on December 25.

It will mark the widest 70mm release that the industry has seen in more than 20 years, TWC said. Tarantino has been one of the biggest proponents of the format and was part of the filmmaker-led fight to keep the film stock division open at Kodak, which had decided to scrap the unit altogether until it was resurrected in February.

Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern also star in the pic.

Bichir portrays Bob, “The Mexican,” in the film.

Bichir to Star in in Quentin Tarantino’s Post-Civil War Western “The Hateful Eight”

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Demián Bichir is hateful…

The 51-year-old Mexican American actor has been cast in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, the epic post-Civil War Western from The Weinstein Company.

The plot: A stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth and his fugitive Daisy Domergue, race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren, a former Union soldier-turned-infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix, a Southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new sheriff.

Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces: Bob (portrayed by Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray, the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage, and Confederate Gen. Sanford Smithers. As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, the eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all.

Bichir, making his first appearance in a Tarantino film, joins a cast that includes Channing Tatum, Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern.

The Hateful Eight begins shooting early next year in Telluride, with The Weinstein Company eyeing a 2015 release.

Almodovar Receives France’s Prix Lumiere for His Lifetime Filmmaking Achievements

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodóvar is beloved in France… And he has the prize to prove it!

The 65-year-old Spanish filmmaker has received the country’s Prix Lumiere for his lifetime filmmaking career.

Almodóvar was overcome by emotion during the tribute ceremony over the weekend, which was attended by members of the French film industry, as well as some of the actresses closest to him like Marisa Paredes, Rossy de Palma and Elena Anaya.

The ceremony ended with the 3,000 attendees packed into the Lyon Congress Center showing their devotion to the director, and at one point singing and dancing to “Resistire” by the Duo Dinamico.

Almodóvar closed the night’s moving festivities, which went on for more than two and a half hours, with a speech that, he said, he had prepared as if it were for a Nobel Prize and which he dedicated entirely to his mother.

Almodóvar, known for such films as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother and Talk to Her, said that his use of “explosive and saturated” colors is his act of revenge for the more than 30 years his mother spent in the “imposed” black of mourning.

Among the film icons who came to honor him were Isabella Rossellini, Paolo Sorrentino, Berenice Bejo and Keanu Reeves.

French actress Juliette Binoche presented him with the prize while shouting “Merci!” which recalled Penelope Cruz’s famous cry of “Peeeedro!” when she announced that the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film went to All About My Mother in 2000.

The prize offered by the Lumiere Institute has paid tribute every year since 2009 to an international film personality. Previous recipients include Clint Eastwood, Milos Forman, Gerard Depardieu, Ken Loach and Quentin Tarantino.

The next day, on Saturday, Almodovar announced that he has begun pre-production for his next film and that on Monday he will begin finding locations for the shoot, but specified it will take place “in various points around Spain’s geography, as well as in Madrid.”

“About the rest, the actors and other details, we’ll have time to talk about that in the coming months,” Almodovar said, after confessing that his visit to the Lumiere Festival has been a “delightful pause” in his new moviemaking project.

Rodriguez to Be Feted by Non-Profit Educational Organization L.A.’s Promise

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Robert Rodriguez has promise…

L.A.’s Promise will honor the 46-year-old Mexican American at its annual gala.

The nonprofit organization aims to improve public schooling in south Los Angeles, with a coverage area that includes two high schools (Manual Arts and West Adams Prep) and one middle school (John Muir). Its initiatives to increase the schools’ performance and involvement in the community are funded in part by the annual gala.

Rodriguez and Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Jeff Shell will be feted at the event, which will be held on September 30 at Universal Studios Hollywood‘s Globe Theatre.

“Our 2014 honorees have a long history of advancing the educational opportunities for underserved communities like the students that L.A.’s Promise serves,” the organization’s president and CEO Veronica Melvin said in a statement. “Jeff and Robert have lent their names and their time to our initiatives in order to help lead the charge in preparing every child in our LA’s Promise Neighborhood to be college and career-ready, healthy and successful in life.”

Rodriguez launched his own cable network, the El Rey Network, in 2013. Its programming includes Matador and From Dusk Till Dawn, an adaptation of his Quentin Tarantino-scripted vampire film. Rodriguez’s film directorial credits include Sin City, Spy Kids and the Machete franchise.

Shell will be present at the event, but Rodriguez is unable to attend.

This year’s event chairs include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, J.J. Abrams and NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer; previous honorees include Ryan Seacrest, Tom Cruise and Fox chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos.

In conjunction with the gala, the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park will be opened for 1,200 L.A.’s Promise students for the evening. The gala attendees will have the opportunity to join them after a cocktail reception and awards ceremony.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate students’ success than to reward them with a night of fun and adventure through the theme park,” L.A.’s Promise board co-chair Frank Marshall said in the statement.

Valderrama to Star in Robert Rodriguez’s “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series”

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Prepare to witness Wilmer Valderrama from dusk ‘til dawn…

The 33-year-old Colombian and Venezuelan American actor has signed on to star in Robert Rodriguez’s television project From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series.

The 10-episode drama is based on the cult horror film by the Mexican American filmmaker and Quentin Tarantino for Rodriguez’s Latino-themed El Rey Network.

Valderrama, who rose to acclaim on Fox’s That ’70s Show, will portray enigmatic crime lord Carlos.

Valderrama, who has a first-look film and television deal with another venture targeting Latino audiences, Pantheon Films, joins a cast that includes Eiza González and Jesse Garcia.

González Lands Key Role in Robert Rodriguez’s “From Dusk Till Dawn” Series

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Eiza González has landed her first high-profile television series in the United States…

The 23-year-old Mexican actress and singer has joined the ensemble cast of Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series.

Filming is currently underway in Austin, Texas on the 10-episode serialized drama, which is based on the cult horror film by Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.

González, best known for starring role in the Mexican teen telenovela Lola…Érase una vez, re-creates the role of Santánico Pandemonium.

She joins the previously announced members of the cast, including Jesse Garcia, who plays Texas Ranger Freddie Gonzalez, a new character created for the series, and Don Johnson, who joins in a recurring role as Sheriff Earl McGraw.

Gonzalez will co-star in the upcoming Adrian Cervantes-directed comedy All Hail the Squash Blossom Queen and can next be seen in Casi treinta (Almost Thirty), directed by Alejandro Sugich.

Garcia to Star in El Rey’s TV Adaptation of Robert Rodriguez’s “From Dusk Till Dawn”

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Jesse Garcia has a new role that will have him working from dusk till dawn…

The 31-year-old Mexican American actor is set to star in El Rey’s first original series From Dusk Till Dawn, a 10-episode series based on the cult horror movie by the English-language network’s founder Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.

Like the film, the El Rey/FactoryMade-produced series centers on career criminal Seth Gecko (portrayed by D.J. Cotrona) and his older, seriously unstable brother Richie (Zane Holtz).

The roles were played in the film by George Clooney and Tarantino, respectively.

Garcia, tarred in the award-winning film Quinceañera, plays Freddie, a new character created for the series — a Texas Ranger who sets out in pursuit of the infamous Gecko brothers.

Also joining the series in a recurring role is Don Johnson who will take on the role of Sheriff Earl McGraw, played by Michael Parks in the movie.

Rodriguez wrote the series and is directing the first two episodes. He’s executive-producing with Carlos Coto, who serves as showrunner.

Filming has started this week in Austin.

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