Miguel Ángel Silvestre to Star in Spanish Miniseries “Lucio’s Treasure”

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Miguel Ángel Silvestre has discovered a new treasure…

The 41-year-old Spanish actor will topline the miniseries Lucio’s Treasure, a real-life inspired project co-produced by Spain’s Vértice360 and Friki Films with Red Arrow International Studios.

ilvestre will play the leading role of Lucio Urtubia, considered a modern Robin Hood who nearly bankrupted Citibank of America in the 1980s. Whether he was caught is another matter.

Structured as a six-episode, one-hour drama, the series is scheduled to lens in English by 2025.

Created by brothers Hugo and Roger Menduiña, Lucio’s Treasure is produced by Friki’s CEO Ana Manresa and Alberto Rull, Vertice’s EVP production and content.

The U.K.’s Anthony Alleyne has joined the series as co-creator, writer and executive co-producer.

Defined by Rull as “an ambitious series, both creatively and in terms of budget,” Lucio’s Treasure is set in Paris and New York, “aimed at being a world-class co-production with large appeal to global audiences.”

Red Arrow International Studios is co-producing and also managing international sales on the project.

The miniseries has been selected for the upcoming edition of MIA’s drama co-production market and pitching forum, which takes place in Rome on October 9-13.

The story follows Lucio, an apparently modest Spanish bricklayer living in Paris, hiding the brains behind the largest network of traveller’s check counterfeiters that led Citibank down a path towards ruin.

Silvestre’s acting career lifted-off in 2008, playing the role of masculine drug dealer Rafael Duque in Telecinco’s popular Spanish TV primetime series Sin tetas no hay paraíso.

In 2013 he toplined the Atresmedia-Bambú hit melodrama Velvet and played in Pedro Almodóvar’s comedy I’m So Excited.

Silvestre broke out with international roles in 2014, first playing in Lana Wachowski’s Netflix series Sense8 and then joining the Narcos Season 3 cast in 2016.

In 2019, he played a far different role, the Death Row-sentenced Pablo Ibar in Bambú–Movistar Plus+ miniseries En el corredor de la muerte. He also worked in Álex de la Iglesia’s HBO series 30 monedas.

After starring in Álex Pina’s action thriller series Sky Rojo, he joined the fifth part of Netflix flagship drama Money Heist.

Silvestre’s most recent leading work role was in the Paramount+ original series Los enviados, the platform’s biggest Spanish-language hit to date, created by Argentine Oscar-winning writer-director Juan José Campanella.

Peter Murrieta Adapting Jeffrey J. Mariotte’s Forthcoming Novel “Blood And Gold: The Legend of Joaquin Murrieta” as a TV/Film Project

Posted on September 25, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a (blood and) golden opportunity for Peter Murrieta.

The Latino two-time Emmy-winning television producer and writer is teaming up with Russell Binder’s Striker Entertainment to option and adapt Jeffrey J. Mariotte’s forthcoming novel Blood And Gold: The Legend of Joaquin Murrieta.

Set during the harsh and brutal but transformative era of the California Gold Rush, the book tells the story of real-life bandit Joaquin Murrieta, who was dubbed the ‘Robin Hood of the West’.

It follows how Murrieta, a romantic, charismatic young Mexican who, overcome by fear that his beloved Rosita will be forced into an arranged marriage, persuades her to join him as he follows his brother Jesús to the California gold fields where they encounter prejudice, hatred, and explosive violence – transforming Joaquin from an honest, hardworking miner into a bandit and the very spirit of vengeance.

The team said the book blends historical facts with untold family stories from direct descendants of Murrieta.

It will be released by Sundown Press in October this year. Peter Murrieta is also a co-author on the book.

Murrieta, who recently signed a first-look deal with Universal Television, will pen the screenplay.

“In the prefatory note to his epic Western novel Warlock, Oakley Hall wrote that ‘The pursuit of truth, not of facts, is the business of fiction,’” said Mariotte. “I have been fascinated by Joaquin Murrieta for nearly five decades, but it took connecting with Peter – who knows the real truth as much as it can be known— – o be able to tell the story the way it needed to be told.”

It’s not decided if the project will be a film or television program.

Murrieta’s credits include Netflix shows One Day At A Time and Mr. Iglesias. He was also an executive producer on Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place and the creator of Warner Bros. series Greetings From Tucson.

Mariah Carey Honors New York’s Essential Heroes During Robin Hood & iHeart Radio’s ‘Heroes of New York’ Event

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Mariah Carey is celebrating the true heroes of 2020 the best way she knows how…

The 51-year-old half-Venezuelan American Grammy-winning chanteuse appeared during Robin Hood and iHeart Radio‘s Heroes of New York event on Tuesday night (December 1) to perform a special medley of her chart-topper “Hero,” “Joy to the World” and David Bowie‘s “Heroes.”

“Seven months ago, New York had its back against the wall. Our neighbors needed help, and Robin Hood reached out to us for our support. New Yorkers answered the call and stepped up,” Carey said in her introduction, before dedicating her number to “the thousands of heroes in New York who did their part to help put our city back on the road to full recovery.”

From there, Carey launched into the hook of Bowie’s classic 1977 single before seamlessly transitioning into her own, similarly named, smash released 17 years later during her Music Box era.

“No nothing could tear us away/ We could be heroes just for one day/ We could be heroes just for one day/ And then a hero comes along/ With the strength to carry on/ And you cast your fears aside/ And you know you/ So when you feel like hope is gone/ Look inside you and be strong/ And you’ll finally see the truth That a hero lies in, a hero lies in you/ That a hero lies in you,” Carey sang from her home studio.

Finally, the star closed out the medley with a passionate, melisma-filled take on “Joy to the World” while backed by a virtual choir.

The one-hour special also featured appearances by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Andy Cohen, Jon Stewart, Kelly Ripa and more, with a special performance of “Smile” by Tony Bennett.

Warner Bros. Developing Animated Speedy Gonzales Film with Eugenio Derbez Voicing the Iconic Character

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Eugenio Derbez has the need for Speed(y)…

Warner Bros. is looking to bring Speedy Gonzalez, the beloved Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies mouse, as an animated feature with the 54-year-old Mexican actor/director voicing the iconic character.

“In Mexico we grew up watching Speedy Gonzales,” Derbez told Deadline about “the Fastest Mouse in all Mexico.” “He was like a superhero to us, or maybe more like a revolutionario like Simon Bolivar or Pancho Villa. He watched out for the little people but with a lot of bravado and a weakness for the ladies. I’m really excited to be bringing this character to the big screen. And besides being Mexican— my full name is Eugenio Derbez Gonzalez and I have big ears. The casting couldn’t be better.”

Speedy Gonzales started out as a character in another cartoon before animators Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt introduced him in an animated short of his own in 1955. Then, the legendary Mel Blanc voiced the mouse. That short, which also featured Looney Tunes’ Sylvester the Cat, ended up winning the Academy Award for best short subject.

The in-development project, which is tentatively entitled Speedy, will be produced by Dylan Sellers via Rivers Edge Films and Derbez and Ben Odell via their 3pas Studios.

Hank Nelken has been hired to script the story, which is described as a heist caper. The project will likely be cut into both English- and Spanish-speaking versions.

“We see this as an origin story of the great master, like a Robin Hood character, who ultimately ends up taking from the rich and giving to the poor,” said Sellers. “In a time when Donald Trump is gaining momentum, the world needs Speedy more than ever.”

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Derbez has voiced animation in the past, particularly notable was Donkey in the Spanish-language version of Shrek. By doing so, he added even more humor into film with local colloquialisms and humor, which was credited for helping box office attendance in Spanish-speaking countries.

Machado Starring in Lifetime Film’s “The Last of Robin Hood”

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Justina Machado hasn’t heard the last of Robin Hood…

The 41-year-old Puerto Rican actress has a role in Lifetime Film’s The Last of Robin Hood, which was recently acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films for U.S. distribution.

The Kevin Kline-starrer was co-written and co-directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland.

The biopic focuses on the final years of Errol Flynn’s life (Kline), as well as his May-December romance with starlet Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning), and the role of Aadland’s mother (Susan Sarandon) had in encouraging the relationship.

“The Last Of Robin Hood captures a very unique aspect of Hollywood and celebrity,” Samuel Goldwyn Films SVP Peter Goldwyn said in announcing the pickup.

“The film takes place in 1959, but it might as well be 2014. You have an aging superstar struggling to maintain his fame, a starlet chasing her big break, a manipulative ‘stage’ mother, and the public’s timeless curiosity, almost obsession with, ‘celebrity.’ The non-stop, sensational tabloid coverage of Errol Flynn’s life and relationship mirrors exactly the kind of coverage this story would receive in Hollywood 55 years later.”

The Last of Robin Hood also stars Bryan Batt, Max Casella, Jason Davis, Matt Kane, Patrick St. Esprit and Ric Reitz.

Samuel Goldwyn Films is planning a fall theatrical release for the biopic.

Lifetime network-affiliated Lifetime Films was launched as a division of A+E Studios in June 2013 and develops, produces and acquires female-focused indie movies. Robin Hood was its first project. It since has partnered with Viola Davis, Julius Tennon’s JuVee Prods. and Sara Risher’s ChickFlicks to produce Lila And Eve, starring Davis and Jennifer Lopez.

Machado’s previous credts include Welcome to the Family, The Fosters, Private Practice, Switched at Birth and Desperate Housewives.

Moura to Portray Pablo Escobar in Netflix’s New Series Narcos

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Wagner Moura has landed one (drug) lord of a role…

The 37-year-old Brazilian film, television and stage actor has been cast as the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in Gaumont International Television and Netflix’s new series Narcos.

The starring role as the Medellin Cartel leader will reunite Moura with Brazilian director Jose Padilha, who directed him in Elite Squad films.

Moura portrayed the police captain who battled corruption in his effort to take down drug dealers in the two Padilha-directed films that were blockbuster hits in Brazil.

Now, Moura, one of Brazil’s biggest stars, will be bringing to life the biggest drug trafficker of his era.

The series, based on Padilha’s idea, will chronicle the life and death of Escobar, the cold-blooded jefe of the Medellin Cartel. Escobar, a known terrorist who was also a congressman and family man, was revered by the poor as a modern-day Robin Hood.

Padilha is slated to oversee and direct the 13-episode first season, which is eying a 2014 debut on Netflix.

Moura most recently gained recognition globally playing “Spider” in the 2013 sci-fi film Elysium.

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