Monica Raymund to Star in “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial”

Monica Raymund is headed to court

The 36-year-old half-Dominican American actress will star in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

Monica RaymundRaymund, the star of Starz’s Hightown, is part of a roster of new cast additions that includes Lance Reddick, Griffin Dunne, Elizabeth Anweis, Lewis Pullman, Francois Battiste and Gabe Kessler.

They join previously announced leads Keifer Sutherland, Jake Lacy, and Jason Clarke.

Led by director William FriedkinThe Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, originally written in 1951 by Herman Wouk, is being retold for modern times and will follow the United States Navy while on trial for mutiny. Until now, there has never been a mutiny on record within the U.S. Navy.

While the USS Caine was engulfed in a deadly typhoon off the coast of Iran, Maryk invoked Article 184 of Naval Regulations to relieve his superior, Lt. Commander Phillip Francis Queeg (Sutherland), of duty. Maryk, self-righteous and insistent that his extreme actions were justified, argued Queeg was mentally unstable and that his paranoid delusions were endangering the ship and crew.

As a result, Maryk took command and in doing so, steered The Caine directly into the storm. Fortunately, the ship and her entire crew survived, giving Maryk a deep belief that his actions were warranted. Through a series of witness examinations and deep prodding at the inner psyche of a career Naval Commander, Greenwald is able to poke holes in the mutiny charge against his client.

Raymund will portray Challee, a Lieutenant with a sharp legal mind and eye for detail who serves as the prosecuting attorney during the court-martial, doing their best to argue that Commander Queeg was wrongfully relieved of his duties.

The project hails from Paramount Global Content Distribution for Showtime.

Ángel Gómez to Direct Screen Gem’s Genre Film “The Pope’s Exorcist”

Ángel Gómez is bringing the thrill to the Vatican

The 32-year-old Spanish filmmaker has been set by Screen Gems to direct The Pope’s Exorcist, a genre film that’s based on the exploits of Father Gabriele Amorth.

Ángel Gómez

He’s the legendary Italian priest who was the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, and performed over 100,000 exorcisms for the Church.

Chester Hastings and R. Dean McCreary wrote the screenplay.

Michael Patrick Kaczmarek, Jeff Katz of Worldwide Katz and Loyola Productions president Eddie Siebert, SJ are producing. Eric Paquette, Michael Bitar and Giselle Johnson will oversee for Screen Gems.

Gómez made his directing debut on Voices and has become a leading voice of Spanish horror. The film was well received in its theatrical run in Spain and it premieres next month on Netflix.

Gomez cut his teeth directing award-winning shorts including Affection and Behind. He’s developing the latter as a feature at Lionsgate with Ghost House and Ground Control.

Screen Gems previously acquired life rights to Chief Exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth from Kaczmarek and Loyola and that includes his two international bestselling memoirs, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories. Father Amorth, who died in 2016, left behind a trove of detailed accounts of his exploits pulling the devil out of people all over the world.

Father Amorth said relatively few of the exorcisms he performed qualified as true demonic possession, but he said his favorite film was the William Friedkin-directed The Exorcist, and that director turned the priest’s life work into the 2017 documentary The Devil and Father Amorth.

Netflix Releases Trailer for Robin de Jesús’ “The Boys in the Band”

Robin de Jesús is playing with the Band

Netflix has released the official trailer for its upcoming Ryan Murphy-produced The Boys in the Band, featuring the 36-year-old Puerto Rican actor/singer, who is best known for his role as Sonny in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical In the Heights.

Robin de Jesus, The Boys in the Band

The Boys in the Band is Joe Mantello’s film adaptation of his hit Tony Award-winning Broadway staging. de Jesus starred as Emory in that 2018 staging, earning a Tony Award nominations for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Starring the Broadway cast – including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer and Andrew Rannells – this adaptation is both faithful to Mart Crowley’s 1968 play while offering a subtle and fresh perspective.

The logline: A group of gay men gather for a birthday party in 1968 New York City, only to find the drinks and laughs interrupted when a visitor from the host’s past turns the evening upside down.

In addition to Parsons, Quinto, Bomer, Rannells and de Jesús, The Boys in the Band also stars Charlie Carver, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington and Tuc Watkins.

With a co-writing credit given to Ned Martel, The Boys in the Band includes some brief scenes you wouldn’t have seen in the 2018 Broadway production nor William Friedkin’s 1970 film version.

The Boys in the Band premieres on September 30 on Netflix.

de Jesús’ previous credits include the films Gun Hill Road and Camp.

Herrera to Star in Fox’s Drama Pilot “The Exorcist”

Alfonso Herrera is ready for a little exorcise

The 32-year-old Mexican actor and former RBD member will star in The Exorcist, Fox’s drama pilot inspired by William Blatty’s 1971 book.

Alfonso Herrera

Penned by Jeremy Slater, the project is described as a modern reinvention of the book, previously adapted into William Friedkin’s classic horror film.

It’s a propulsive, serialized psychological thriller following two very different men — Father Tomas Ortega (Herrera) and Father Marcus Lang (Ben Daniels) — tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession and confronting the face of true evil.

Herrera’s Father Tomas is the warm, selfless and compassionate leader of a small but hearty little church. Daniels’ Father Marcus is the intense holy warrior carrying out an occupation that the church no longer acknowledges in public.

Herrera got the attention of Fox and 20th Century Television casting executives last year when he was cast as the male lead in their pilot Urban CowboyHe made his American acting debut with a recurring role on the Netflix drama series Sense8 

He’s well established in Latin America where he is a telenovela star and has done a slew of popular TV series in movies in his native Mexico, including hit telenovela Rebelde and high-grossing feature The Perfect Dictatorship.

 

Bichir Firming Up Post-Oscars Projects

He’s one of Mexico’s beloved actors… And, now it appears Demián Bichir is on the verge of superstardom in Hollywood…

The 48-year-old Mexican actor—who received an Academy Award nomination for his critically acclaimed performance in A Better Life—is lining up his next two English-language projects.

Demian Bichir

Bichir is currently in talks to join the cast of Machete Kills, the follow-up to Robert Rodriguez‘s cult classic Machete. Co-starring Jessica Alba and Mel Gibson, the sequel will find Danny Trejo’s iconic character Machete battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer looking to launch a weapon into space.

In addition, Bichir will star in William Friedkin‘s thriller Trapped, where he’ll reportedly play an Israeli agent.

Bichir—who got his start in Mexican telenovelas before crossing over into English-language projects, including an acclaimed recurring role on Showtime’s Weeds, can next be seen in Oliver Stone’s upcoming dramatic thriller Savages, co-starring Salma Hayek and Benicio del Toro