Rodriguez to Star in New Regency’s Heist Thriller “Widows”

Michelle Rodriguez is turning to a life of crime…

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican-American actress has joined the cast of New Regency’s heist thriller Widows from British helmer Steve McQueen.

Michelle Rodriguez

Rodriguez will join Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis, as well as Cynthia Erivo.

Gone Girl scribe Gillian Flynn co-wrote the script with McQueen, based on the 1983 British miniseries penned by Lynda LaPlante (Prime Suspect).

The story begins when four armed robbers are killed during a failed heist and their surviving widows join forces and resolve to pull off the next raid themselves.

Widows marks McQueen’s first feature since winning the Best Picture Oscar for 12 Years a Slave in 2014.

Rodriguez, who made a name for herself with roles in Universal Pictures’ hit Fast and Furious franchise, has starred in Avatar, Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Retribution. Her other credits include Girlfight, S.W.A.T. and Battle: Los Angeles.

Warner Bros. Releases New Trailer for Leto’s “Suicide Squad”

The Joker’s on Jared Leto

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for Suicide Squad, starring the 44-year-old part-Spanish actor/singer, as anticipation builds for the supervillain film.

Jared Leto in Suicide Squad

In addition to Leto as The Joker, the film also stars Will SmithMargot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Scott Eastwood, Cara Delevingne, Adam Beach and Karen Fukuhara.

Warner Bros. tweetedThank Squad. The wait is almost over,” along with the new clip, on its Twitter account for the film.

Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 5.

New Trailer Released for Leto’s “Suicide Squad”

The Joke(r)’s on Jared Leto

The 44-year-old part-Spanish American actor/singer and his Suicide Squad co-stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Cara Delevingne took to the stage at the MTV Movie Awards to unveil the new trailer for the film.

Suicide Squad's Jared Leto as The Joker

Suicide Squad is the second (official) installment of the DC Extend Universe , following Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and, retroactively, Man of Steel.

The film sees a shady government spymaster assembling a team composed of the DC Universe’s worst criminals to take down an even greater evil. To keep them in line, the team members are implanted with “microbombs” in their heads set to go off if they try to flee or if they fail – the “succeed or die” requirement gives the squad its name.

The villainous good guys are led by Smith who plays DC villain Deadshot, Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Jay Hernandez as El Diablo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, and Cara Delevingne as The Enchantress.

The ensemble cast is rounded out by Leto as The Joker, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, the military officer overseeing the team, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, with Ike Barinholtz, and Scott Eastwood.

The film is written and directed by David Ayer and hits theaters August 5.

Nolasco’s “American Crime” to Premiere on January 6 on ABC

Elvis Nolasco is ringing in the New Year with a little Crime

ABC has slated John Ridley’s American Crime, starring the Dominican actor, to premiere on January 6.

Elvis Nolasco

The second season of the critically acclaimed series will return for a second season on a new night, Wednesday, where it will air in Nashville’s 10:00 pm time slot while the country music drama is on winter hiatus. 

American Crime‘s second season is set in the U.S. Midwest at two high schools, one public and one private.

The first season of the show, which followed a racially charged murder and the subsequent trial, aired in the Thursday 10 PM slot, succeeding How To Get Away With Murder, which has shorter (18-episode) seasons per star Viola Davis’ contract.

This season, the plan is to keep the Shondaland branding on the night intact with the latest Shonda Rhimes-produced drama, The Catch, following HTGAWM in the 10:00 pm hour.

In Season 2, issues of sexual orientation and socioeconomic disparity come to a boil when lurid photos of a high school boy are posted on social media following a school party. Circumstances become more complicated when the boy accuses two players on an elite private high school’s championship basketball team of drugging, assaulting and then posting the pictures of him online.

Many of the Season 1 cast members are back, including stars Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton, as well as co-stars Regina King — who won an Emmy for her role — Lili Taylor and Nolasco, who are joined by Trevor Jackson, Connor Jessup, Joey Pollari and Angelique Rivera.

Samuel Goldwyn Films Acquires North American Rights to Lopez’s “Lila and Eve”

Jennifer Lopez is a Goldwyn girl… of sorts.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the North American distribution rights to the 45-year-old Puerto Rican singer-actress and American Idol judge’s latest film Lila and Eve.

Jennifer Lopez

The Charles Stone III-directed drama, which co-stars Viola Davis, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Davis plays a grief stricken mother who, in the aftermath of her son’s drive by shooting murder, bonds with a woman (Lopez) who lost her daughter. Fed up with the futility of the justice system, they become vigilantes who go on a killing spree, working through the chain of drug dealers who killed the young man.

Shea Whigham, Julius Tennon, Chris Chalk and Andre Royo also star.

The film will be released later this year.

Leto to Serve as a Presenter at This Year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards

It’s another night with The Actor for Jared Leto

The 43-year-old part-Spanish American actor, who picked up a SAG Award, also known as “The Actor,” last year for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club, will serve as a presenter at Sunday’s 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Jared Leto

In addition to Leto, other presenters just added to the roster include Matthew Beard, Colin Farrell, Jeff Goldblum, Allen Leech, Lupita Nyong’o, Emmy Rossum, Andy Samberg, Liev Schreiber and Reese Witherspoon

They join previously announced Patricia Arquette, Adrien Brody, Ellar Coltrane, Kevin Costner, Laverne Cox, Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eric Dane, Viola Davis, Carrie Fisher, Ethan Hawke, SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard, Felicity Jones, Rashida Jones, Michael Keaton, Lenny Kravitz, Matthew McConaughey, Edward Norton, Eddie Redmayne, Julia Roberts, J.K. Simmons, and Emma Stone.

The SAG Awards will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS at 8:00 pm ET/ 5:00 pm PT.

Lopez’s Revenge Drama “Lila & Eve” to Debut at the Sundance Film Festival

Jennifer Lopez apparently agrees with the saying, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican actress/singer and American Idol judge will be making an appearance at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

Jennifer Lopez

Lopez’s latest film Lila & Eve, co-starring How To Get Away With Murder’s Viola Davis, will make its out of competition debut next month at the Utah-based festival.

The dramatic film centers on two distraught mothers, whose children were gunned down in a drive-by, as they team up to avenge their deaths after local authorities fail to take action.

Other films with Latino talent to be shown at next month’s Sundance Film Festival include Colombian director Rodrigo Garcia’s Last Days in the Desert and Colombian actor John Leguizamo’s Experimenter.

Here’s a closer look at the new additions to the Sundance Film Festival lineup featuring Latino talent:

PREMIERES

A showcase of world premieres of some of the most highly anticipated narrative films of the coming year.

Experimenter / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Almereyda) — Experimenter is based on the true story of famed social psychologist Stanley Milgram, who in 1961 conducted a series of radical behavior experiments that tested ordinary humans’ willingness to obey authority by using electric shock. We follow Milgram from meeting his wife through his controversial experiments that sparked public outcry. Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Winona Ryder, Jim Gaffigan, Kellan Lutz, Taryn Manning, John Leguizamo.

Last Days in the Desert / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Rodrigo Garcia) — Ewan McGregor is Jesus — and the Devil — in an imagined chapter from his 40 days of fasting and praying in the desert. On his way out of the wilderness, Jesus struggles with the Devil over the fate of a family in crisis, setting himself up for a dramatic test. Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ciarán Hinds, Ayelet Zurer, Tye Sheridan.

Lila & Eve / U.S.A. (Director: Charles Stone III, Screenwriter: Patrick Gilfillan) — Lila, a grief-stricken mother reeling from her son’s murder, attends a support group where she meets Eve, who urges her to take matters into her own hands to track down her son’s killers. They soon embark on a journey of revenge, but also recovery. Cast: Viola Davis, Jennifer Lopez, Shea Whigham, Julius Tennon, Ron Caldwell, Aml Ameen.

Vergara to Present at This Year’s Primetime Emmy Awards

She may not be nominated this year, but Sofia Vergara will still be taking the stage at the Primetime Emmy Awards.

The 42-year-old Colombian actress and Modern Family star has been added to the presenters list for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Sofia Vergara

Along with Vergara, the new additions to the list include Viola Davis, Allison Janney, Keegan-Michael Key, Lucy Liu, Debra Messing, Jordan Peele, Andy Samberg and Octavia Spencer.

They join previously announced Halle Berry, Bryan Cranston, Zooey Deschanel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Woody Harrelson, Adam Levine, Matthew McConaughey, Julianna Margulies, Jim Parsons, Amy Poehler, Julia Roberts, Gwen Stefani and Kerry Washington.

The Emmys telecast is set to air live on Monday, August 25 at 8:00 pm ET on NBC.

ABC Sends Souza’s Legal Thriller “How to Get Away with Murder” to Series

Karla Souza is about to get away with murder

ABC has given a series pickup to the legal thriller How to Get Away with Murder, featuring the 29-year-old Mexican actress in a series regular role.

Karla Souza

Executive produced by Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes, the series Viola Davis as the brilliant, charismatic and seductive Professor Annalise Keating, who gets entangled with four law students from her class “How to Get Away with Murder.” Little do they know that they’ll have to apply what they’ve learned to real life, in this masterful, sexy, suspense-driven legal thriller.

In addition to Davis and Souza, who portrays Laurel, How to Get Away with Murder also stars Billy Brown, Alfred Enoch, Jack Falahee, Katie Findlay, Aja Naomi King, Matt McGorry, Charlie Weber and Liza Weil.

Written by executive producer Peter Nowalk, the pilot was directed by Michael Offer and produced by ABC Studios.

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

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.

Justina Machado

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 DavisJulius 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.