Kate del Castillo Signs with Buchwald

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Kate del Castillo has new representation…

The 49-year-old Mexican actress and telenovela star has signed with Buchwald.

del Castillo stars in Telemundo’s hit drama La Reina del Sur.

One of the highest rated Spanish-language series in the world, La Reina del Sur adapts the bestseller by Spanish novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte. In the crime drama, which recently wrapped filming for Season 3, del Castillo plays Teresa Mendonza, a woman from Mexico who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain.

Castillo recently completed a two-series deal with Telemundo. Her production company, Cholawood, has a first-look development deal with Boomdog, the Mexico City-based division of Endemol Shine North America.

The actress starred opposite Will Smith as the villain in Sony’s Bad Boys for Life, also recently featuring on NBC’s sitcom Mr. Mayor, from creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, and the Netflix animated series Maya and the Three, created by Jorge R. Gutiérrez.

She rose to acclaim in America with her performance in Fox Searchlight’s Under the Same Moon, which is one of the highest-grossing Spanish-language theatrical releases in U.S. history, and has also featured in such films as Bordertown, No Good Deed and All About Nina.

del Castillo has also appeared in series including PBS’ Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated drama American Family, The CW’s Jane the Virgin and Showtime’s Weeds, among others. Her one-woman Off-Broadway show, The Way She Spoke, made her the first Latina actress to earn Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel Award nominations.

A philanthropist and outspoken global activist, del Castillo was appointed Ambassador for the Mexican Commission on Human Rights to combat human trafficking in 2009.

Ariana DeBose Wins Critics Choice Awards Acting Prize for “West Side Story”

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Ariana DeBose is the critics’ choice…

The 27th annual Critics Choice Awards honored the best in movies and television during a Sunday night broadcast on The CW and TBS, with the 31-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/singer/dancer among the honorees.

DeBose, who’d won the first BAFTAs trophy of her career one night earlier, was named Best Supporting Actress for her inspired work in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. It’s the latest in a long list of acting honors for Debose for her portrayal of the iconic Anita in the latest film adaptation of the Broadway musical, including a Golden Globe and historic SAG Award.

This year’s nominations in film saw Belfast and West Side Story lead with 11 each, followed by Dune and The Power of the Dog with 10 each. For the television side, Succession, Mare of Easttown and Evil emerged as leading nominees.

Here’s the complete list of this year’s winners.

MOVIES

Best picture
The Power of the Dog

Best actor
Will Smith, King Richard

Best actress
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best supporting actor
Troy Kotsur, CODA

Best supporting actress
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

Best young actor/actress
Jude Hill, Belfast

Best acting ensemble
Belfast

Best director
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best original screenplay
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast

Best adapted screenplay
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best cinematography
Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog

Best production design
Patrice Vermette, Zsuzsanna Sipos, Dune

Best editing
Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn, West Side Story

Best costume design
Jenny Beavan, Cruella

Best hair and makeup
The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best visual effects
Dune

Best comedy
Licorice Pizza

Best animated feature
The Mitchells vs the Machines

Best foreign language film
Drive My Car

Best song
“No Time to Die” – No Time to Die

Best score
Hans Zimmer, Dune

TELEVISION

Best drama series
Succession

Best actor in a drama series
Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game

Best actress in a drama series
Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets

Best supporting actor in a drama series
Kieran Culkin, Succession

Best supporting actress in a drama series
Sarah Snook, Succession

Best comedy series
Ted Lasso

Best actor in a comedy series
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Best actress in a comedy series
Jean Smart, Hacks

Best supporting actor in a comedy series
Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

Best supporting actress in a comedy series
Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso

Best limited series
Mare of Easttown

Best movie made for television
Oslo

Best actor in a limited series or movie made for television
Michael Keaton, Dopesick

Best actress in a limited series or movie made for television
Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown

Best supporting actor in a limited series or movie made for television
Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus

Best supporting actress in a limited series or movie made for television
Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

Best foreign language series
Squid Game

Best animated series
What If…?

Best talk show
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Best comedy special
Bo Burnham: Inside

The 27th annual Critics Choice Awards, hosted by Taye Diggs and Nicole Byer, are airing live on The CW and TBS on Sunday, March 13.

Jaime Camil Signs First Look Deal with Paramount’s VIS for Paramount+ TV & Film Projects

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Jaime Camil is getting a first look…

The 48-year-old Mexican actor/singer and Jane the Virgin scene-stealer has signed a first look deal with VIS, a division of Paramount, to develop a variety of television and film projects for Paramount+.

Under the terms of the agreement, he’ll create, develop and produce exclusive Spanish language and majority-Spanish language scripted and non-scripted content for the streaming service.

“We are excited to welcome Jaime Camil to our roster of global talent working to bring the best premium content to Paramount+,” said JC Acosta, President of International Studios & Networks Southern Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, in an exclusive statement to Deadline. “With Jaime’s experience and creative focus, we are confident that he’ll bring the best Spanish-language content to Paramount+ that resonates with our audiences around the world.”

Added Camil, “Paramount is home to some of the most beloved and iconic films and television shows of all time. I am thrilled and humbled to join their family. Throughout history, stories have been one of the most potent drivers of society and culture. Storytelling generates empathy and it imparts wisdom through characters in place of lived experience.

“Additionally, through the prism of art, story allows us to contextualize and also see a deeper beauty within our own lives,” he continued. “I look forward to developing and producing meaningful stories with the amazing team at Paramount. I can’t wait to show the world what we have in store.”

Before making a splash in the English-language market as Rogelio de la Vega on the CW’s Jane the Virgin, Camil was already a bona fide star in Latin America.

While working on Jane the Virgin and after the show concluded in 2019, he worked as a voice actor in multiple films including Coco, Hotel Transylvania 3, and The Secret Life of Pets and The Secret Life of Pets 2; and on the small screen: Elena of Avalor, DuckTales, BoJack Horseman, and Green Eggs and Ham.

Camil most recently starred as Doc Jorge Lopez in the Apple TV+ comedy Schmigadoon! and the Steven Soderbergh feature Kimi released in February via HBO Max.

He is currently shooting the Vicente Fernandez biopic The Idol of the People in the titular role. The Caracol TV production will be released exclusively on Netflix domestically.

The CW Orders Six Additional Scripts of Robert Rodriguez’s Zorro Reboot Project with a Female Lead

Posted on February 4, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Robert Rodriguez’s Zorro television project with a female lead is one step closer to becoming reality.

The CW has ordered an additional six scripts for the long-gestating Zorro reboot from the 53-year-old Mexican American filmmaker/writer, bringing the script total to 7.

In addition to Rodriguez, the CW’s gender-swapped reimagining of the classic masked vigilante character also hails from writer-director Rebecca Rodriguez, Sean Tretta (Mayans M.C.), Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens’ Propagate and CBS Studios.

The CW has not specified what the next step would be for Zorro if the network brass are happy with the new scripts, but a straight-to-series order is likely.

This is a variation of the straight-to-series model, which the network has employed with a different degree of success over the past two years.

The CW’s Zorro is a new incarnation of the project, which was in development at NBC during the 2020-21 cycle, with Tretta as a new addition to the brother-and-sister writing team of Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez.

Co-penned by the trio and to be directed by Rebecca Rodriguez, in Zorro, a young Latinx woman seeking vengeance for her father’s murder joins a secret society and adopts the outlaw persona of Zorro. The story by Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez was already in place when Tretta, who has an overall deal at CBS Studios, came on board earlier this cycle to write the script.

Tretta, who also will serve as showrunner, and Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez will executive produce with Silverman, Owens and Rodney Ferrell for Propagate.

Propagate originally set out to develop a Zorro TV series with a female lead in 2019 as one of the company’s first projects under its first-look deal with CBS Studios. The idea’s first incarnation, written by Alfredo Barrios Jr., was set up at NBC, as was the 2020-21 version with Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez, which also had Sofia Vergara attached as an executive producer. She is no longer involved in the project.

Robert Rodriguez was attached to direct The Mask of Zorro and cast Antonio Banderas as the title role before leaving the feature project.

In TV, he currently serves as an executive producer-director on Disney+’s The Book of Boba Fett. He previously developed and executive produced the series adaptation of his movie From Dusk Till Dawn for his television network El Rey and also executive produced the Spy Kids animated series offshoot for Netflix. He recently directed an episode of Disney+’s The Mandalorian.

Rebecca Rodriguez’s recent directing credits include episodes of HBO Max’s Doom Patrol, NBC’s Debris, TNT’s Snowpiercer and Showtime’s The Chi.

Wilmer Valderrama Teams Up with Rafael Agustín & Marvin Lemus to Develop Drama/Satire Series “Hipster Death Rattle”

Posted on December 7, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Wilmer Valderrama is rattle to roll…

The 41-year-old Colombian/Venezuelan American actor and NCIS co-star is teaming up with Rafael Agustín and Marvin Lemus to develop Hipster Death Rattle, a drama/satire with comedic elements for The CW.

The one-hour series from CBS Studios—based on the novel of the same name by Richie Narvaez—is set in a historically Latino neighborhood that’s falling victim to aggressive gentrification.

According to the show’s logline, “Someone is killing the ‘woke’ yet pretentious new hipsters. But who? And worse – do the locals even care? The victims were just hiking up rent anyway!’”Both Agustín and Lemus will executive produce alongside Valderrama and Kaitlin Saltzman for WV Entertainment, and Corinne Brinkerhoff and Tiffany Grant for Green Ribbon. Agustín will also write, and Lemus is set to direct.

Agustín serves as CEO of the Latino Film Institute, overseeing the Youth Cinema Project, their project-based learning educational film program, and the annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival.

He was a writer on the CW’s Jane the Virgin and a Sundance fellow for his TV family comedy, Illegal, based on his life as a formerly undocumented American.

Agustín is currently writing his comedic undocumented memoir, Illegally Yours, for Grand Central Publishing.

Lemus is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer. He co-created and directed Netflix’s Gentefied, which released its second season in November. He also served as co-showrunner on Season 2.

Melissa De Sousa Signs with Mainstay Entertainment

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Melissa De Sousa has new management…

The 54-year-old Panamanian American actress has signed with Mainstay Entertainment for management.

De Sousa, best known for her role as the infamous Shelby in Universal’s The Best Man and The Best Man Holiday, films will next be seen starring opposite Morris Chestnut in the Peacock limited series The Best Man: The Final Chapters based on the films, which set to begin shooting in 2022.

Also on the television side, De Sousa recently wrapped the first season of Our Kind of People opposite Chestnut for Fox.

Her other recent credits include recurring as Chief Ana Lopez on CW’s Black Lightning and as the pill popping journalist Mirta Herrera on Showtime’s On Becoming a God in Central Florida, opposite Kirsten Dunst.

De Sousa continues to be repped by A3 Artists Agency and Meyer & Downs.

Bianca Santos to Star in the Indie Thriller “Invitation to a Murder”

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Bianca Santos has accepted a new invitation…

The 31-year-old Brazilian and Cuban American actress will star alongside Mischa Barton and Seamus Dever in Stephen Shimek’s indie thriller, Invitation to a Murder.

The film sees a reclusive billionaire invite six seemingly random strangers to his island estate, including aspiring detective Miranda Green (Barton). When another guest turns up dead, Miranda must get to the bottom of the plot behind the gathering to prove herself and maybe save her life.

Santos will play Carmen Blanco, a poor waitress from Seville who joins Green and Dever’s attorney Lawrence Kane as a guest at the mansion. She gets swept up in a romance with another guest, but when things take a deadly turn, she must decide whose side she’s on.

Brian O’Donnell penned the film, which is based on an original story by Gérard Miller.

It’s now in production in Chicago.

Zeus Zamani and Brian Vilim are producing, with ACE Entertainment’s Sebastien Semon and Jerome Reydner-Kalfon executive producing.

Santos is best known for her turn as Lexi Rivera in Freeform drama series The Fosters, and as Maya in The CW’s fantasy series Legacies.

The actress has previously starred on the film side in Ouija, The Duff and Priceless.

Juan Carlos Coto Developing First-Responders Drama Series for CBS, “Rescue: MIA”

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Carlos Coto is coming to the rescue…

The Latino producer, writer, and veteran film and television showrunner is developing Rescue: MIA, a first-responders series for CBS.

Coto, executive producer on 9-1-1 who also served as consulting producer on 9-1-1: Lone Star, wrote the pilot from a story co-written by NCIS: Los Angeles director James Hanlon who also has directed episodes of Station 19 and Chicago Fire.

The drama is executive produced by a star of one of CBS’ hit procedurals, NCIS: Los Angeles’ Eric Christian Olsen, via his Cloud Nine Productions.

Somewhat in the vein of CBS’ juggernaut Blue Bloods, Rescue: MIA revolves around a legendary family of first responders that works together to rescue the citizens of Miami from emergencies and disasters, even as long-buried secrets threaten to tear apart their familial bonds.

Hanton was a NYC firefighter on the ground during and in the aftermath of 9/11, and his documentary film 9/11 won a Peabody Award as well as two Emmys.

Coto, Hanlon and Olsen executive produce Rescue: MIA. CBS Studios where Cloud Nine has a deal, is the studio.

Coto is writing and serves as executive producer/showrunner on The Ledger, an action drama at Will Packer Media headlined by Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña.

Known for his work as showrunner on Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, Coto also previously co-executive produced the CW’s Nikita and worked on NBC’s Heroes and Fox’s 24.

Carlos Valdes to Appear in Starz’s Watergate Drama “Gaslit”

Posted on October 16, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Valdes’ latest project is (gas)lit!

The 32-year-old Colombian actor and singer is set to appear opposite Julia Roberts and Sean Penn in Starz’s Watergate drama Gaslit.

Valdes will appear in a heavily recurring role alongside Patton Oswalt, Nat Faxon, Erinn Hayes, Patrick Walker and Raphael Sbarge.

Also joining in recurring roles are Anne Dudek, Chris Conner, Brian Geraghty, Nelson Franklin, Reed Diamond, Johnny Berchtold, Adam Ray and Billy Smith.

Based on the first season of the Slate podcast Slow Burn, Gaslit is a modern take on Watergate that focuses on the untold stories and forgotten characters of the scandal – from Richard Nixon’s bumbling, opportunistic subordinates to the deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes to the tragic whistleblowers who would eventually bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down.

The story will center on Martha Mitchell (Roberts). A big personality with an even bigger mouth, Martha is a celebrity Arkansan socialite and wife to Nixon’s loyal Attorney General, John Mitchell (Penn). Despite her party affiliation, she’s the first person to publicly sound the alarm on Nixon’s involvement in Watergate, causing both the presidency and her personal life to unravel. As attorney general, Mitchell is Nixon’s most trusted adviser and best friend. Temperamental, foulmouthed and ruthless – yet hopelessly in love with his famously outspoken wife – he’ll be forced to choose between Martha and the president.

Valdes will portray Paul Magallanes, one of the FBI Agents assigned to the Watergate case. He and his partner, Angelo Lano (Chris Messina), come up against the full force of the White House as they investigate the events of June 1972.

The series is created and executive produced by Robbie Pickering. Matt Ross will direct and executive produce.

Valdez best known for his role as Cisco Ramon / Vibe on The CW television series The Flash and other Arrowverse-related projects.

Ilana Peña Teaming Up with Crystal Ferreiro to Develop the Dramedy “Hermanas” for The CW

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s sister time for Ilana Peña…

The Latina writer, who created Diary of a Future President, is teaming up once again with the Disney+ series’ writer Crystal Ferreiro on the project Hermanas, a drama with some humor in development at the CW.

The project hails from Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Studios, where Peña and JBTV are under deals.

Written by Ferreiro with Peña supervising, Hermanas follows three sisters—individually described as a “hot mess,” a “rigid overachiever” and a “homemaker who never left”—who reunite in their small town in Naples, FL after their brother, the crown jewel of the family, gets into a debilitating accident. As the women put their resentments aside to help him, the Primés realize that the sanitized version you present to family evaporates when you’re in close quarters, and what’s exposed is your most messy, authentic and vulnerable self.

Ferreiro executive produces alongside Peña, who executive produces under her Tilde Productions banner and will serve as showrunner. Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed executive produce for Jerry Bruckheimer Television.

Peña is creator, showrunner, EP and director of Diary of a Future President, which recently saw the release of its second season. Ferreiro was a writer on the CBS Studios-produced series.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: The CW