The 29-year-old Puerto Rican actress, who earned critical acclaim for Spirit Award-nominated her performance in Fruitvale Station, has landed the lead in HBO‘s Laughs Unlimited(working title).
The drama series, which centers on a war vet’s struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder, has been in the works at HBO for several months.
While it hasn’t been picked up to pilot yet, the network is doing preliminary casting and working on the budget as it does on most scripts it is high on before making a formal pilot order.
Laughs Unlimited hails from Oren Moverman, who has directed Rampart and The Messenger, and Anthony Swofford, best known for writing the book Jarhead.
It centers on Army Reserve medic Billie Crown (Diaz) who, after fifteen months as a combat medic in Afghanistan, discovers that “real life” is just as perilous as war. Duty as a Sacramento cop offers the same dangers and thrills as combat, and repairing relationships with her husband and young daughter is as difficult as saving a comrade after an IED attack. Moverman and Swofford wrote the script
Demián Bichir is reaping the recognition after starring in critically acclaimed film about an East L.A. illegal immigrant gardener.
The 48-year-old Mexican actor has received a Spirit Award nomination in the Best Male Lead category for his star-making role in A Better Life, a poignant film about a father’s love and the lengths he’ll go to give his child the opportunities he never had.
Bichir—who depicted Fidel Castro in Steven Soderbergh’s Che and had a recurring role on Showtime’s Weeds—will face off against Hollywood heavyweights Ryan Gosling (Drive) and Woody Harrelson (Rampart), as well as Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Michael Shannon (Take Shelter).
But Bichir isn’t the only Hispanic actor getting some Spirit love…
Transgender actress Harmony Santana has received a Best Supporting Female nomination for playing Michael/Vanessa in the coming out drama Gun Hill Road, the same role that landed her a Gotham Award nomination for Breakthrough Actor. She’s up against Jessica Chastain (Take Shelter), Anjelica Huston (50/50), Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs) and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants).
With five nods each, The Artist and Take Shelter lead this year’s nominations for the Spirit Awards, which honor films made outside of the Hollywood studio system.
Winners will be announced at the 27th annual Spirit Awards daytime ceremony on Saturday, February 25 that will be broadcast later in the evening on the IFC channel.
The Spirit Awards are produced by Film Independent—the non-profit arts organization that also puts on the Los Angeles Film Festival.
