Jennifer Lopez to Star Opposite Brett Goldstein in Netflix Rom-Com “Office Romance”

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Jennifer Lopez is having an office romance…

The 55-year-old Puerto Rican superstar will star opposite Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein in Netflix’s irreverent romantic comedy Office Romance.

Lopez has previously delivered two hit movies for the streamer… The Mother and Atlas.

There was a hot bidding war for the forthcoming feature, which Netflix won.

Goldstein and Joe Kelly are co-writing the rom-com.

The producers on Office Romance are Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett for Ryder Picture Company; Goldstein and Kelly; as well as Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina for Nuyorican Films.

Nuyorican Productions has a multiyear first-look deal with Netflix spanning feature films, TV series and unscripted content, with an emphasis on projects that support diverse female actors, writers and filmmakers.

Lopez and Goldstein recently had films at the Toronto Film Festival. Lopez was at TIFF with the Amazon MGM Studios sports drama Unstoppable, about championship wrestler Anthony Robles, who was born with one leg; the movie has 74% fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Goldstein world premiered the MRC feature drama All of You, which he co-wrote and starred in with Imogen Poots. That film stands at 85% fresh reviews on RT.

Lopez’s top two movies on Netflix, The Mother and Atlas, clocked 136.4 million global views and 73 million global views, respectively. The Mother is among the streamer’s 10 most-watched movies of all time and was Netflix’s most-watched movie of 2023. Atlas also hit the top 10 in 93 countries.

Carlos Marques-Marcet Wins Platform Competition Award at Toronto Film Festival for “They Will Be Dust”

Posted on September 15, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Marques-Marcet is celebrating a special international prize…

The 41-year-old Spanish film director, screenwriter and film editor, best known for his first fictional film 10,000 km, picked up the Platform Competition Award at the just-wrapped 2024 Toronto Film Festival.

Marquez-Marcet won for his unequal parts contemporary dance-musical and ensemble drama They Will Be Dust.

In addition to directing the film, he co-wrote the film with Clara Roquet and Coral Cruz.

Starring Ángela Molina, Alfredo Castro and Mònica Almiral, the woman centers on a woman with an incurable disease who decides to end her life. Her significant other Flavio sets in motion a plan to die together in Switzerland, while their daughter Violeta ends up as an unmeant middle woman.

Heres the list of this year’s TIFF awards winners:

People’s Choice Award
The Life of Chuck, dir. Mike Flanagan | USA
The first runner-up: Emilia Pérez, dir. Jacques Audiard | France/USA/Mexico
The second runner-up: Anora, dir. Sean Baker | USA

People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award
The Substance, dir. Coralie Fargeat | United Kingdom/USA/France
The first runner-up: Dead Talents Society, dir. John Hsu | Taiwan
The second runner-up: Friendship, dir. Andrew DeYoung | USA

People’s Choice Documentary Award
The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal, dir. Mike Downie | Canada
The first runner-up: Will & Harper, dir. Josh Greenbaum | USA
The second runner-up: Your Tomorrow, dir. Ali Weinstein | Canada

SHORT CUTS AWARDS

Best International Film
Deck 5B, dir. Malin Ingrid Johansson | Sweden
Honourable mention: Quota, dir. Job Roggeveen, Joris Oprins, Marieke Blaauw | Netherlands

Best Canadian Film:
Are You Scared To Be Yourself Because You Think That You Might Fail?, dir. Bec Pecaut | Canada

FIPRESCI AWARD
Mother Mother, dir. K’naan Warsame | Somalia

NETPAC AWARD
The Last of the Sea Women, dir. Sue Kim | USA

BEST CANADIAN DISCOVERY AWARD
Universal Language, dir. Matthew Rankin | Canada
Honourable mention: You Are Not Alone, dirs. Marie-Hélène Viens, Philippe Lupien | Canada

BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM AWARD
Shepherds, dir. Sophie Deraspe | Canada

PLATFORM COMPETITION AWARD
They Will Be Dust, dir. Carlos Marques-Marcet | Spain, Italy, Switzerland
Honourable mention: Sylvia Chang in Daughter’s Daughter, dir. Huang Xi | Taiwan

Harvey Guillén to Star In & Produce the Bromance Comedy “That Friend”

Posted on July 26, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Harvey Guillén has made a new friend…

The 34-year-old Mexican American actor will star in and produce That Friend, a bromance comedy about the dynamics of friendship and growing up.

The film marks the feature directorial debut of writer-directors Will Sterling and Alex Wall.

In the upcoming feature, Guillén portrays Paul, that one friend we all have whose invitation for “one drink” seems harmless but the next thing you know, you’re drunk on a Tuesday, swaying in your kitchen eating dry top ramen out of the bag and wishing you hadn’t just sent that text. Henry is just trying to have a romantic weekend in Palm Springs with his new girlfriend Penny until Paul crashes their trip. And when Paul’s pack of drug-laced cigarettes disappear into the hands of a stranger, the night really takes a turn.

Production for That Friend is slated to begin in December, with Ryan Tillotson and the L.A.-based Straw Hut Media producing alongside Guillén.

Guillén is best known for his acclaimed breakout role in FX’s modern-day vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, which recently previewed its sixth and final season at San Diego Comic-Con. The final season is set to premiere on October 21.

In the show from Jemaine Clement, based and his and Taika Waititi’s 2014 New Zealand film of the same name, Guillén portrays Guillermo de la Cruz, the long-suffering familiar (or servant) of vampire Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), who by the fifth season, has fulfilled his wish of becoming a vampire in his own right.

Guillén has also appeared on series like Reacher, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and The Magicians, while lending his voice to high-profile animated projects across film and television, including Harley Quinn, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, The Garfield Movie and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

In film, the actor’s other credits include Blue Beetle, Strays, I’m Totally Fine, Werewolves Within, Truth or Dare and The Internship.

Up next, the actor will be seen in Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck, world premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, New Line’s sci-fi thriller Companion and more.

Bleecker Street Acquires U.S. Distribution Rights to Bobby Cannavale’s Family Dramedy “Ezra”

Posted on November 7, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Bobby Cannavale’s latest project is headed to a U.S. theater near you…

Bleecker Street has acquired the U.S. rights to Ezra, the starry family dramedy starring the 53-year-old half-Cuban American Emmy-winning actor.

Hailing from actor-turned-director Tony Goldwyn, the film is coming off of its world premiere in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto Film Festival.

Starring Cannavale, Rose Byrne, Robert De Niro and newcomer William A. Fitzgerald, the film is slated for release in theaters in 2024.

Also starring Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg, Ezra follows Max Brandel (Cannavale), a once successful late-night comedy writer turned less-successful stand-up comedian, who struggles through the failure of his career and marriage. After moving in with his father, Stan (De Niro), Max and his ex-wife Jenna (Byrne) remain at odds on how to best raise their autistic son, Ezra (Fitzgerald).

Described by Deadline as “a touching testament to the power of love, acceptance, and the challenges of parenthood,” the film was written by Tony Spiridakis, with William Horberg, Jon Kilik, Goldwyn and Spiridakis producing.

Paramount+ Releases First Look at Jenna Ortega’s “Finestkind”

Posted on September 8, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

It’s Jenna Ortega’s finest(kind) hour…

Paramount+ has released first look images at Finestkind, starring the 20-year-old Puerto Rican & Mexican American actress.

From Brian Helgeland, the film also stars Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Foster and Toby Wallace, ahead of its premiere Friday at the Toronto Film Festival. The film is set for a November premiere exclusively on Paramount+.

Written and directed by Helgeland, Finestkind tells the story of two brothers (Foster & Wallace), raised in different worlds, who are reunited as adults over a fateful summer. Set against the backdrop of commercial fishing, the story takes on primal stakes when desperate circumstances force the brothers to strike a deal with a violent Boston crime gang. Along the way a young woman (Ortega) finds herself caught perilously in the middle. Sacrifices must be made and bonds between brothers, friends, lovers, and a father (Jones) and his son are put to the ultimate test.

“Finestkind is populated with characters I once knew. But the film I probably should have made first in my career I saved for now,” said Helgeland. “In it, a crew of fishermen in my hometown of New Bedford, Massachusetts, find themselves in dangerous water as debts they can’t possibly pay mount up. In this clip, the pressure begins to turn them against each other.”

Ismael Cruz Cordova, Aaron Stanford, Scotty Tovar, Tim Daly, Lolita Davidovich and Clayne Crawford also star.

Finestkind was originally set back in 2018 with Jake Gyllenhaal, Ansel Elgort and Zendaya starring.

Netflix Releases First Trailer for Benicio Del Toro-Starrer “Reptile”

Posted on August 21, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Benicio Del Toro is dealing with a “real nightmare”…

Netflix has released the first trailer for Reptile, a crime thriller starring the 56-year-old Puerto Rican actor and producer, Justin Timberlake and Alicia Silverstone.

The film will debut on the streamer on October 6th, after making its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

Marking the feature directorial debut of veteran music video director Grant Singer, the film is set in motion by the brutal murder of a young real estate agent, following a hardened detective (Del Toro) as he attempts to uncover the truth in a case where nothing is as it seems. In doing so, he finds himself dismantling the illusions in his own life.

“How have you been feeling?” Del Toro’s Nichols is asked in the trailer, to which he responds, “There’s a case going on. It’s a real nightmare.”

First up for interrogation is the victim’s boyfriend, played by Timberlake, who gives his account of coming home to discover her with a knife in her back. But he’s certainly not the only suspect. Among others being looked at are the woman’s friend (Sky Ferreira) and ex-husband (Karl Glusman), and a “weirdo” (Michael Pitt) who’d been making unwelcome visits to the boyfriend’s front door.

Also starring Ato Essandoh, Frances Fisher, Eric Bogosian, Domenick Lombardozzi, Matilda Lutz, Owen Teague and Catherine Dyer, the film was scripted by Singer & Benjamin Brewer & Del Toro.

Buffalo 8 Acquires North American Rights to Javier Andrade’s Drama “Lo Invisible”

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Javier Andrade’s latest project won’t be invisible for long in North America…

Buffalo 8 has acquired the North American rights to the 45-year-old Ecuadorian filmmaker’s drama Lo Invisible, Ecuador’s candidate for the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film.

Directed by Andrade, the film is scheduled for release on VOD in the second or third quarter of this year.

In Lo Invisible, a woman (Anahí Hoeneisen) returns from psychiatric care and finds herself in new confinement — a stunning mansion in Puembo, Ecuador. She’s unable to return to normalcy after a bout of severe postpartum depression and, alone amongst family and servants, must keep her struggles invisible — over time, sinking deeper and deeper into madness.

The first Ecuadorian film to be featured at the Toronto Film Festival in nearly 20 years, Lo Invisible also secured a nomination for Best Iberoamerican Film last year at the Málaga Spanish Film Festival.

Antonio Banderas to Star in the Action-Crime Thriller “Clean Up Crew”

Posted on August 8, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Banderas is cleaning up…

The 61-year-opld will star opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Melissa Leo in the Yale Entertainment action-crime thriller Clean Up Crew from director Jon Keeyes.

The Ireland-based production recently wrapped, and Yale’s recently-launched sales banner Great Escape, led by Nick Donnermeyer, will handle foreign rights and introduce the title at next month’s Toronto Film Festival.

The film follows a crime scene clean-up crew, which includes Rhys Meyers and Leo’s characters, who discover a briefcase full of cash, unknowingly sending them into battle with mobsters – led by a ruthless crime boss, played by Banderas, as well as hitmen, and corrupt government agents who are hell bent to get the dough back.

Clean Up Crew was written by Matthew Rogers.

“We’re excited to work with this legendary all-star cast on what will be an edge-of-your seat, action-packed film,” said Levine and Beckerman. “We’re certain that Jon Keeyes will deliver a uniquely thrilling cinematic experience.”

Banderas’ has been a frequent collaborator of award-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, and starred in such works as the director’s Pain and Glory. Banderas won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for that film, and was nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars.

He will next be seen starring with Penelope Cruz in the Spanish comedy Official Competition and returns as the voice of Puss in Boots in Dreamworks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Next year, he stars in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Indiana Jones film.

Music Box Films Acquires Thriller-Satire Film “Medusa,” Starring Mari Oliveira

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Mari Oliveira will be thrilling audiences in North America…

Music Box Films has acquired North American rights to Medusa, the well-received thriller-satire starring the Latina actress.

Hailing from Brazilian writer and director Anita Rocha da Silveira. Medusa follows Mariana (Oliveira), a 21-year-old who belongs to a world where she must do her utmost to keep up the appearance of a perfect woman. In order to resist temptation, she and her girlfriends try their best to control everything and everyone around them. And that includes the town sinners. At night, their girl squad put on masks, hunt and beat up all women who have deviated from the right path. However, the day will come when the urge to scream will be stronger than it ever has been.

The social and political critique, which touches on themes of sexual liberation, violence, and religious fixation in Brazil, marks a follow-up to the filmmaker’s debut feature, Kill Me Please.

The feature debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight strand before getting its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

Box Films is aiming to release the film theatrically in the summer of 2022 with a home entertainment plan to follow.

“Medusa’s bold commentary on social and political trends in Brazil will resonate with US audiences who can recognize the disturbing parallels in this country,” commented Brian Andreotti, Head of Acquisitions at Music Box Films. “Anita is an exciting filmmaker with a wholly original voice, and we are excited to bring her provocative and aesthetically striking film to a wider audience.”

“We are thrilled to work for the first time with Music Box Films,” added Martin Gondre, Head of Sales & Acquisitions at Best Friend Forever. “We couldn’t find a better home for Anita’s stylish, topical, and striking second feature.”

Neon Acquires Worldwide Rights to Rebeca Huntt’s Debut Film “Beba”

Posted on October 3, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Rebeca Huntt’s acclaimed debut film is going global…

Neon has acquired the worldwide rights to Beba, the debut film by the Afro-Latina artist.

Huntt’s 16mm feature film of poetry and interview footage, which recently made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews, will debut in 2022.

Huntt undertakes an unflinching exploration of her own identity in the coming-of-age documentary/cinematic memoir. Reflecting on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, she investigates the historical, societal and generational trauma she’s inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans.

Huntt searches for a way to forge her own creative path amid a landscape of intense racial and political unrest as an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection.

“Poetic, powerful and profound, Beba is a courageous, deeply human self-portrait of an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection,” Neon said.

Huntt wrote and directed the film, and she produced it with Sofia Geld. Oscar nominee Petra Costa, Alyse Ardell Spiegel, Alessandra Orofino, Joy Bryant and Inuka Bacote-Capiga serve as the film’s executive producers.

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