Raúl Castillo Starring in Crypto-Heist Thriller “Cold Wallet”

Raúl Castillo is the cold

The 45-year-old Mexican American actor will star in Cold Wallet, a crypto-heist thriller from director Cutter Hodierne, which has wrapped production.

Castillo will star opposite Melonie Diaz, Tony Cavalero and Josh Brener in the project.

Inspired by real stories, the film follows a rag-tag team of Redditors who lose everything in a crypto ponzi scheme and plot to kidnap the ‘financial influencer’ who screwed them over.

The film was in production when news of the FTX scandal broke.

The script was written by John Hibey — the 2023 Sundance Screenwriting Lab Fellow with whom Hodierne penned his first feature, Fishing Without Nets. Serving as the foundation for it was a story by Hodierne, Derek McMurtry and Hibey.

Producers included Benjamin Wiessner of Vanishing Angle along with Hibey and Hodierne. McMurtry, Castillo, Cavalero, Diaz, Brener and crypto guru Justin Staple are the executive producers.

“I can’t stress enough how thrilled I am to be a part of Cutter’s new feature. I was a big fan of Fishing Without Nets and, though I feel our film is just as timely and relevant, I think he has managed to move in a whole new direction,” Castillo told Deadline. “He and his producers have put together an outstanding crew and an incredibly pitch-perfect cast. I am proud to share the screen with every single one of them.”

Castillo is a Gotham and Independent Spirit Award nominee coming off a year of work in decorated titles including The Inspection (A24), Hustle (Netflix) and Cha Cha Real Smooth (Apple TV+). Other upcoming feature projects for the actor include the action-thriller Breathe with Milla Jovovich, Sam Worthington and Common, FX’s limited series Class of ’09 premiering May 10th, and Prime Video’s Gael García Bernal starrer Cassandro from Roger Ross Williams, which world premiered this year at Sundance.

Best known for starring alongside Adam Devine in Danny McBride’s megachurch comedy The Righteous Gemstones, now heading into its third season on HBO, Cavalero has also been seen in ABC’s The Conners, TBS’ Miracle Workers, Hulu’s The Binge and the Netflix film The Dirt which had him playing Ozzy Osborne, among other projects.

A two-time Independent Spirit Award nominee, Diaz most recently led The CW’s reboot of Charmed, which ran for four seasons. Notable feature credits for the actress include The First PurgeAll About NinaThe Belko ExperimentThe CobblerFruitvale Station and Be Kind Rewind, to name a few.

Dascha Polanco to Star in the Superhero Thriller “Samaritan”

Dascha Polanco is a good Samaritan…

The 37-year-old Dominican actress is set to star in MGM’s superhero thriller movie Samaritan

Dascha Polanco

Polanco joins a cast that includes Javon ‘Wanna’ WaltonSylvester StalloneMartin StarrPilou Asbækand Moises Arias.

Walton will play a young boy who’s out to discover if a mythic superhero, who vanished 20 years earlier following a tragic event, is still alive.

Julius Avery is directing from a screenplay by Bragi F. Schut, with additional writing by Mark L. SmithZak Penn, and Chuck MacLean

The story is based on Schut’s original idea. 

The film is scheduled for release on December 11 via United Artists Releasingwith Universal handling foreign. 

Polanco portrayed Dayanara Diaz on Netflix’s Orange is the New Blackfor seven-seasons and starred in Ava DuVernay’s 2019 Netflix limited series When They See Us. She’ll soon be seen in her first lead film role in Adrian Martinez’s indie dark comedy iCreep, and Warner Brothers’ adaption of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heightsthis summer. Her additional credits include the FXanthology series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Storyand films including JoyThe Perfect MatchThe Cobblerand Gimme Shelter

Arias first made a name for himself as series regular on the Disney Channel hit original series Hannah Montana, and has since gone on to appear in several Sundance films including Kings of Summer, The Land and Stanford Prison Experiment. Last year, he appeared in CBS Films’ Five Feet Apart as well as the Sundance World Dramatic Competition Special Jury Award winner Monos and the SXSW opening weekend film The Wall of Mexico

Polanco to Star in the Indie Dark Comedy “iCreep”

Dascha Polanco is ready to lead…

The 33-year-old Dominican actress, a regular on the Netflix dramedy Orange Is the New Black, has landed her first starring film role.

Dascha Polanco

Polanco is set as the female lead in iCreep, an indie dark comedy from writer-director Adrian Martinez, who also stars in and will produce the film.

iCreep follows the life of a loner, Gilbert (Martinez), and the love of his life, Jana (Polanco).

Polanco plays Dayanara Diaz on Orange Is the New Black, sharing a pair of SAG Awards for the ensemble cast, and also appeared in the features Joy and The Perfect Match.

Her other credits include The Cobbler and Gimme Shelter.

Diaz to Star in MGM’s Action Horror Film “The Belko Experiment”

It experiment time for Melonie Diaz

The 31-year-old Puerto Rican actress has joined the cast of the MGM action horror pic The Belko Experiment.

Melonie Diaz

Written and produced by Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, the film is set to begin production next month in Bogota with director Greg McLean.

Diaz will play Dany Wilkins, the new girl at Belko Corporation. It’s her first day working in the building, and she really couldn’t have chosen a worst first day, since this is the day the employees are forced to either kill each one other or be killed.

Diaz starred in 2014 Sundance hit Fruitvale Station, and her recent credits also include HBO’s Girls and the features X/Y and The Cobbler.

Polanco Upped to Series Regular on Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black”

Dascha Polanco will face more prison days ahead.

The Dominican actress, who was raised in Miami and Brooklyn, has been promoted to series regular for season three of Netflix/Lionsgate’s hit series Orange is the New Black.

Dascha Polanco

Polanco, in her first full-time acting gig, has appeared in nearly every episode of the prison-based dramedy’s first two seasons playing ‘jailbird sweetheart’ Dayanara Diaz.

Polanco’s character wants to be released from prison in order to be with her lover John Bennett (Matt McGorry) and the child they’re about to have together.

Polanco, who starred in Gimme Shelter, will next be seen in the upcoming Adam Sandler dramedy, The Cobbler.

Diaz Cast in HBO’s Drama Series Project “Laughs Unlimited”

Melonie Diaz has plenty of reason to laugh

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).

Melonie Diaz

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

Diaz recently wrapped production on The Cobbler.