Luis Guzmán to Star in Rian Johnson’s Peacock Series “Poker Face”

Luis Guzmán is playin’ poker

The 66-year-old Puerto Rican actor will star in Peacock’s Poker Face, a mystery drama series starring Natasha Lyonne, hailing from Rian Johnson, his T-Street banner and MRC Television.

Luis GuzmánGuzman is among a roster of new cast additions that includes Cherry JonesHong Chau and Reed Birney.

Details of their roles, as well as plot details of the 10-episode anthology-like series are being kept under wraps.

In addition to Lyonne, the four join previously announced cast members Adrien Brody, Angel Desai, Audrey Corsa, Benjamin Bratt, Charles Melton, Chloe Sevigny, Clea DuVall, Danielle MacDonald, Dascha Polanco, Ellen Barkin, Jasmine Aiyana Garvin, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Light, Leslie Silva, Lil Rel Howery, Niall Cunningham, Nicholas Cirillo, Nick Nolte, Ron Perlman, S. Epatha Merkerson, Shane Paul McGhie, Simon Helberg, Stephanie Hsu, Tim Blake Nelson and Tim Meadows.

Johnson is the creator, writer and director of Poker Face and will also executive produce alongside T-Street partner Ram Bergman and the company’s television president Nena Rodrigue. Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman (Prodigal Son, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) serve as showrunners and executive producers. Lyonne also will serve as an executive producer via her Animal Pictures. The company’s Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens will co-executive produce.

Guzmán is best known for his roles in Steven Soderbergh’s films such as Out of Sight, The Limey, and Traffic, and in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love.

On television, he has had key roles on Showtime’s Shameless, Epix’s Godfather of Harlem and Perpetual Grace, LTD.

Searchlight Pictures Releases Trailer for Anya Taylor-Joy’s Darkly Comic Horror Film “The Menu”

Anya Taylor-Joy’s plate is full… But of what?

Searchlight Pictures has released the first teaser for its darkly comic horror film The Menu, starring the 26-year-old Argentine American actress, Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult.

Anya Taylor-JoyHailing from director Mark Mylod, the film sees a couple (Taylor-Joy and Hoult) travel to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where Chef Slowik (Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

The trailer shows Slowik welcome guests to a restaurant named Hawthorne.

“It’ll be our pleasure to feed you,” he says. “Over the next few hours, you will ingest fat, salt, protein and at times, entire ecosystems.”

It sounds fair enough, until Hawthorne’s dark side is quickly revealed, with the Chef warning Taylor-Joy’s Margot that she shouldn’t be there.

“You, my dear guests, are not the common man. Isn’t that right?” he later says. “What happens inside this room is meaningless compared to what happens outside. We are but a frightened nanosecond; nature is timeless.”

While it hasn’t been explicitly stated what “shocking surprises” await those heading to Hawthorne, it seems probable that cannibalism plays some role in this tale.

The Menu‘s cast also includes Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Judith Light, Reed Birney, Paul Adelstein, Aimee Carrero, Arturo Castro, Mark St. Cyr, Rob Yang and John Leguizamo.

Seth Reiss and Will Tracy wrote the script, with Hyperobject IndustriesBetsy Koch and Adam McKay producing, Michael Sledd executive producing, and Hyperobject’s Jenna Go serving as associate producer.

The film is slated for release in theaters on November 18.

Arturo Castro to Star in the Gourmet Dark Satire “The Menu”

Arturo Castro is ordering off The Menu

The 35-year-old Guatemalan actor has been cast in Searchlight Pictures’ gourmet dark satire The Menuwhich is currently filming in Savannah, GA.

Arturo Castro

Castro joins a roster of new cast additions that includes Paul Adelstein, Rob YangMark St. CyrRebecca KoonPeter Grosz and Christina Brucato.

They join the previously announced line-up of the Mark Mylod-directed feature: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau (Elsa), Janet McTeer (Lillian Bloom), John Leguizamo (as Movie Star), Aimee Carrero (Felicity), Reed Birney (Richard) and Judith Light (Anne).

Based on an original screenplay by Seth Reiss and Will TracyThe Menu follows a young couple, Margot and Tyler (Taylor-Joy and Hoult), who travel to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where Chef Slowik (Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

Castro will portray Soren.

He previously appeared on the Comedy Central series Broad City and the Netflix series Narcos.

HBO Releases Trailer for Santiago-Hudson’s Telepic “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”

It’s a first look at Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s Immortal project…

HBO has released a first look at its upcoming telepic The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, starring the 60-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor and featuring Oprah Winfrey in a rare starring turn.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

It’s the true story of the African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line after many other such efforts failed — and without her permission or knowledge.

Told through the eyes of Henrietta Lacks’ daughter, Deborah (Winfrey), the HBO Films project chronicles her search, with the help of journalist Rebecca Skloot (Rose Byrne), to learn about the mother she never knew and understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks’ cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented breakthroughs that changed the face of medicine forever. When the sheepishly smiling writer tells Deborah that she wants to pen a book about her mom’s experience, Deborah looks her up and down, then says, “Hope I don’t regret this.”

In addition to Winfrey, Byrne and Santiago-Hudson, the telepic also stars Renée Elise Goldsberry, Rocky Carroll, Kyanna Simone Simpson, Courtney B. Vance, Leslie UggamsReg E. CatheyReed Birney and Melvin Van Peebles.

The film hails from writer-director George C. Wolfe, based on Skloot’s 2010 book.

It premieres at 8:00 pm ET on April 22 on HBO.

Moreno Earns Drama Desk Nomination for “Year of the Rooster”

Bobby Moreno’s latest Broadway role could have him ruling the roost this awards season…

The part-Panamanian actor has earned a Drama Desk nomination in the Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play category for his physically demanding stage role as a bird in Year of the Rooster.

Bobby Moreno

Moreno portrays Odysseus Rex, a rooster with issues, in Eric Dufault’s dark cockfighting comedy.

“I watched a lot of bird documentaries. David Attenborough has this series called The Life of Birds,” Moreno tells The New York Times about the research that went into his role. “Birds’ eyes focus in a very funny way. My performance is based on their movements that are jittery. But I don’t want it to be too much. I’m probably onstage for 25 minutes. The trick is what quick stories can I tell. There’s a kiss in the show that’s now a bird kiss because of something I saw in a documentary.”

Moreno, who has appeared on CBSThe Good Wife, is up against Casa Valentina’s Reed Birney, Choir Boy’s Chuck Cooper, Outside Mullingar’s Peter Maloney, The Jacksonian’s Bill Pullman and The Glass Menagerie’s Brian J. Smith.

Meanwhile, Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Ruben Santiago-Hudson has earned a nod in the Outstanding Solo Performance category for his role in August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned.

The 57-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor will face off against This is My Office’s David Barlow, Character Mans Jim Brochu, Grounded’s Hannah Cabell, Becoming Dr. Ruth’sDebra Jo Rupp and Satchmo at the Waldorf’s John Douglas Thompson.

Santiago-Hudson, who portrayed Captain Roy Montgomery on ABC‘s Castle, previously won a Tony Award in 1996 for his performance in Seven Guitars.

The 59th edition of the Drama Desk awards will take place on June 1 at The Town Hall in New York City.

Here’s the complete list of nominees:

Outstanding Play
Nell Benjamin, The Explorers Club
Steven Levenson, Core Values
Conor McPherson, The Night Alive
Richard Nelson, Regular Singing
Bruce Norris, Domesticated
Robert Schenkkan, All The Way
John Patrick Shanley, Outside Mullingar

Outstanding Musical
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Fun Home
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Rocky
The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Revival of a Play
I Remember Mama
London Wall
No Man’s Land
Of Mice and Men
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Model Apartment
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe Production)

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Les Misérables
Violet

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Hamish Linklater, The Comedy of Errors
Ian McKellen, No Man’s Land
David Morse, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin
Chris O’Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Daniel Radcliffe, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Denzel Washington, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Barbara Andres, I Remember Mama
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Laurie Metcalf, Domesticated
J. Smith-Cameron, Juno and the Paycock
Harriet Walter, Julius Caesar

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Adam Jacobs, Aladdin
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Steven Pasquale, The Bridges of Madison County
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Kelli O’Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Margo Seibert, Tamar of the River
Barrett Wilbert Weed, Heathers: The Musical

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Chuck Cooper, Choir Boy
Peter Maloney, Outside Mullingar
Bobby Moreno, Year of the Rooster
Bill Pullman, The Jacksonian
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Betty Buckley, The Old Friends
Julia Coffey, London Wall
Diane Davis, The Model Apartment
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Jan Maxwell, The Castle
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Rory O’Malley, Nobody Loves You
Bobby Steggert, Big Fish

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, Little Miss Sunshine
Anika Larsen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Laura Osnes, The Threepenny Opera
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Director of a Play
Joe Calarco, A Christmas Carol
Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Thomas Kail, Family Furniture
Bill Rauch, All The Way
Anna D. Shapiro, Domesticated
Julie Taymor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Bartlett Sher, The Bridges of Madison County
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Alex Timbers, Rocky
Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Choreography
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett, Kelly Devine, Rocky
Danny Mefford, Love’s Labour’s Lost
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Sonya Tayeh, Kung Fu

Outstanding Music
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Andrew Lippa, Big Fish
Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Alan Menken, Aladdin
Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers: The Musical
Jeanine Tesori, Fun Home

Outstanding Lyrics
Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Michael Friedman, Love’s Labour’s Lost
Michael Korie, Far from Heaven
Lisa Kron, Fun Home

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Robert L. Freedman, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, Murder for Two
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Douglas McGrath, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Marsha Norman, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Orchestrations
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
John Clancy, Fun Home
Larry Hochman, Big Fish
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Michael Starobin, If/Then
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Music in a Play
Lewis Flinn, The Tribute Artist
Elliot Goldenthal, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Rob Kearns, The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle
Tom Kochan, Almost, Maine
Nico Muhly, The Glass Menagerie
Duncan Sheik, A Man’s a Man

Outstanding Revue
After Midnight
I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Musik from the Weimar and Beyond
Le Jazz Hot: How the French Saved Jazz
Til Divorce Do Us Part
What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined

Outstanding Set Design
Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Richard Hoover, Small Engine Repair
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Ian MacNeil, A Doll’s House
Donyale Werle, The Explorers Club

Outstanding Costume Design
Constance Hoffman, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Zane Pihlstrom, Nutcracker Rouge
Loren Shaw, The Mysteries
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
David C. Woolard, The Heir Apparent

Outstanding Lighting Design
Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Jane Cox, Machinal
David Lander, The Civil War
Peter Mumford, King Lear
Brian Tovar, Tamar of the River
Japhy Weideman, Macbeth

Outstanding Projection Design
Robert Massicotte and Alexis Laurence, Cirkopolis
Sven Ortel, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Aaron Rhyne, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Shawn Sagady, All The Way
Austin Switser, Sontag: Reborn
Ben Rubin, Arguendo

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Kai Harada, Fun Home
Peter Hylenski, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Peter Hylenski, Rocky
Brian Ronan, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Dan Moses Schreier, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Jon Weston, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
M.L. Dogg, The Open House
Katie Down, The Golden Dragon
Paul James Prendergast, All The Way
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Christopher Shutt, Love and Information
Matt Tierney, Machinal

Outstanding Solo Performance
David Barlow, This is My Office
Jim Brochu, Character Man
Hannah Cabell, Grounded
Debra Jo Rupp, Becoming Dr. Ruth
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned
John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf

Unique Theatrical Experience
Charlatan Cirkopolis
Mother Africa
Nothing to Hide
Nutcracker Rouge
The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill Vol. 2