Alfonso Cuarón to Adapt Renee Knight’s Novel “Disclaimer” as an Apple TV+ Series 

Alfonso Cuarón is releasing a disclaimer

The 60-year-old Mexican Oscar-winning filmmaker will adapt Renee Knight’s novel Disclaimer as a series for Apple TV+ with Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline starring.

Alfonso CuarónThe project marks the first series from the Roma filmmaker since he signed an overall deal with the streamer in 2019. It also marks a series debut for Sophie’s Choice and A Fish Called Wanda star Kline.

Cuarón will write, direct and executive produce all episodes of the series, marking the first time that he has written and directed all episodes of an original series. Blanchett will also executive produce.

Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a successful and respected television documentary journalist whose work has been built on revealing the concealed transgressions of long-respected institutions. When an intriguing novel written by a widower, played by Kline, appears on her bedside table, she is horrified to realize she is a key character in a story that she had hoped was long buried in the past. A story that reveals her darkest secret. A secret she thought was hers alone.

Disclaimer is produced by Cuarón’s Esperanto Filmoj and Anonymous Content. Academy Award-winner Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity) and Academy Award nominee Bruno Delbonnel (The Tragedy of Macbeth) will serve as directors of photography on the project. Cuarón serves as executive producer alongside Esperanto Filmoj’s Gabriela Rodriguez and Anonymous Content’s David Levine, Dawn Olmstead and the late Steve Golin. Renee Knight serves as co-executive producer.

Cassandra Sanchez-Navarro Signs with Buchwald & Anonymous Content for U.S. Representation

Cassandra Sanchez-Navarro is ready to crossover stateside…

The 30-year-old Mexican actress and telenovela star has signed with Buchwald and Anonymous Content for representation in the United States.

Cassandra Sanchez-Navarro

Sanchez-Navarro starred in the romantic comedy Cindy La Regiaa film that went on to become the most successful film in her native Mexico in 2020.

She most recently appeared in the Pantaya release El Peligro En Tu Miranda, currently available for viewing on streaming platforms.

Up next, she will appear in two films: Malcriados and Enfermo Amor opening in Mexico later this year.

Other credits include appearances in Netflix’s Sense 8 and El Dragon: Return of the Warrior for Univision and Televisa.

Sanchez-Navarro was classically trained at LA’s Lee Strasberg Academy and New York American Musical and Dramatic Academy, before going to London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

She’s a fifth-generation actor and granddaughter of Manolo Fabregas, often referred to as ‘The Man of Theater’, and the first Mexican to perform on Broadway, starring opposite legends including Shirley MacLaine and Clint Eastwood.

She continues to be represented by manager Prensa Danna in Mexico.

Tanya Saracho to Make Film Directorial Debut with Adaptation of Her Off Broadway Play “Mala Hierba”

Tanya Saracho is in the (bad) weeds…

The Mexican-American actress, playwright, dramaturge, screenwriter and Vida creator is bringing her 2014 Off Broadway play Mala Hierba to the big screen, and she’ll be directing the film adaptation of her acclaimed project.

Tanya Saracho

In her film directorial debut, Saracho has teamed up with Anonymous Content to adapt the Texas border town set drama.

The film version of Mala Hierba  will be produced by AC Studios, with Dawn Olmstead, David Levine, and Whitney Dibo overseeing the project for outfit.

Former Vida EP Stephanie Langhoff, and Christine Davila, head of development and production at Saracho’s Ojala Productions, will serve as producers on Mala Hierba.

Originally opening at Second Stage Uptown nearly six years ago, the play unravels the coiffured life of a Lone Star State trophy wife who begins to see the cracks in her life of wealth and privilege as her first and perhaps true love reappears. The possibility of a renewed life together for the two women forces the Liliana character to make a searing decision about what she wants and who she is.

The stage production of Mala Hierba was directed by Jerry Ruiz and starred Marta Milans, Sandra Marquez, and Ana Nogueira in the primary roles.

The union with Anonymous comes just over a couple of weeks after the active Saracho launched the Ojalá Ignition Lab in conjunction with UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Part of the acclaimed playwright and filmmaker’s 2020 inked development deal with the studio, the incubator program for Latinx voices will provide five writers and their own proposed projects with mentoring from experienced showrunners and EPs, including self-described “den mother” Saracho and an extended network to draw on for the future.

Since Vida, which won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, finished its three-season stint on Starz in May 2020, Saracho stayed in Britain during the pandemic to work with musician and Lovesick actor Johnny Flynn for an upcoming project.

America Ferrera to Make Feature Directorial Debut with “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” Film Adaptation

America Ferrera is headed behind the lens…

The 36-year-old Honduran American Emmy– and Golden Globe-winning actress will make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by author Erika Sánchez, who will serve as a co-producer on the film.

America Ferrera

Anonymous Content and MACRO are producing the film, which will be released on Netflix.

Linda Yvette Chávez, the co-creator behind the Netflix and MACRO series, Gentefied, adapted the screenplay. Anonymous Content optioned the rights to the book under the company’s first-look deal with Aevitas Creative Management.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

Released in 2017, the story follows Julia Reyes, the precocious and strong-willed teenaged daughter of first-generation Mexican immigrants. She often clashes with her more traditional parents, who wish she were more like her sister Olga, the platonic ideal of a Mexican daughter. However, when Olga is killed in a tragic accident, it is up to Julia to hold her family together.

“Years ago, I fell in love with Erika L. Sánchez’ stunning novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” said Ferrera. “The depth, wit and searing intelligence of her writing, and her young Latina heroine, struck me to my core and left me wanting so much more. I am truly honored and humbled to direct Linda Yvette Chávez’s beautifully adapted screenplay. The opportunity to direct the work of these two incredibly talented Latina writers is a dream come true. I can’t wait to share this film with the many fans of the novel, and to introduce this funny, profound, and resonant story to the world.”

Ferrera rose to acclaim as a headstrong young Latina in Real Women Have Curves. She would later go on to win an Emmy and Golden Globe for her role as Betty Suarez on the ABC series Ugly Betty, which ran for four seasons. She can currently be seen in the sixth and final season of the NBC comedy, Superstore.

Taylor Zakhar Perez Signs with WME & Anonymous Content

Taylor Zakhar Perez is ready to take his career to the next level…

The young Latino actor has signed with WME and Anonymous Content.

Taylor Zakhar Perez

Perez is coming off of a breakout role on the Vince Marcello-helmed hit Netflix franchise The Kissing Booth.

Based on the YA novel by Beth Reekles, the teen rom-com follows the romantic adventures of Elle, played by Joey King, her bad-boy boyfriend Noah (Jacob Elordi), and her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney). Perez first appeared in last year’s Kissing Booth 2, in the role of Marco, a handsome, charismatic new classmate who complicates Elle’s love journey.

Netflix reported that The Kissing Booth 2 was viewed by more than 65 million people in the first four weeks on the platform.

Perez is set to return for the third installment, which will debut this summer. It picks up where the second one left off. It’s the summer before Elle heads to college, and she has a secret decision to make. She has been accepted into Harvard, where boyfriend Noah is matriculating, and also Berkeley, where her BFF Lee (Noah’s brother) is headed. Which path should she choose?

Perez was also recently cast in the HBO Max comedy pilot Minx from Ellen Rapoport, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, and Lionsgate Television.

Gloria Calderón Kellett Appointed to Television Academy’s Executive Committee

Gloria Calderón Kellett is joining the Television Academy’s executive committee…

The 45-year-old Latina television writer, creator and One Day at a Time executive producer is among the six new appointees to organization’s executive committee, as chosen by the organization’s chairman and CEO, Frank Scherma.

Gloria Calderón Kellett

Calderón Kellett is joined by Issa Rae, Rob Mills, Anonymous Content’s Dawn Olmstead, Amazon StudiosVernon Sanders and Apple TV PlusZack Van Amburg.

“We are thrilled to be able to leverage the collective expertise of this talented group of Television innovators as we navigate this extraordinary time in the history of our industry,” Scherma said. “Their leadership provides invaluable insight that will allow the Academy to play an integral role in shaping the evolution of the medium.”

The six appointees will work closely with the Television Academy’s officers and board of governors to develop and guide the direction of the Academy for the 2021 term, the organization said.

Here’s more on Scherma’s new executive committee members:

Gloria Calderón Kellett: Executive producer, co-creator, co-showrunner, director and actress on One Day at a Time. Other credits as a writer/producer include Devious Maids, Rules of Engagement and How I Met Your Mother. She also directed episodes of Mr. Iglesias, Merry Happy Whatever, United We Fall and the Mad About You revival; and recently sold her first feature film, We Were There Too.

Robert Mills: Senior vice president, alternative series, specials and late-night programming, ABC Entertainment. Mills oversees development, current production and specials for ABC, with shows such as “American Idol,” “Shark Tank,” “The Bachelor” franchise, “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” He also handles late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and the “Fun & Games” programming block.

 

Dawn Olmstead: Recently named CEO and partner of Anonymous Content. Prior to that, she served as president of Universal Content Productions, overseeing all creative and business operations of scripted and non-scripted content for the studio.

Issa Rae: Actress, writer and producer. She created and stars in HBO’s “Insecure,” for which she has received multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Rae’s film credits include “The Hate U Give,” “The Lovebirds” and “Coastal Elites.”

Vernon Sanders: Co-Head of Television at Amazon Studios. Sanders oversees scripted and unscripted original programming produced for Prime Video and IMDb TV alongside Albert Cheng, including “Fleabag,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” and “The Boys.” Prior to Amazon, Sanders served as executive vice president, current programming for NBC.

Zack Van Amburg: Chief content officer and head of worldwide video for Apple TV Plus. Van Amburg oversees all aspects of strategy for video programming globally including the launch of the platform. Prior to Apple, he served as president of Sony Pictures Television.

Meanwhile also elected to the Academy’s board of governors as representatives on the executive committee for the 2021 term: Eva Basler, daytime programming; Kim Coleman, casting directors; Nicole Marostica, public relations; and Lois Vossen, documentary programming.

Cris Abrego, Chairman of the Americas, Banijay, and President and CEO, Endemol Shine Holdings, who was recently elected to serve a two-year term as the Television Academy foundation chair, will also serve on the Television Academy’s executive committee.

Blumhouse Wins Screen Rights to New York Times’ Story About Late Mexican Human Rights Activist Miriam Rodriguez

The late Miriam Rodriguez’s story is headed to the big screen…

Blumhouse has won the screen rights to a December 13 New York Times story which chronicled the late Mexican human rights activist and desperate mother’s revenge spree in Mexico, when she avenged her daughter’s murder by taking on the drug cartels and tracking down the perpetrators by herself.

Miriam Rodriguez

She saw 10 of them apprehended by police before she was shot and killed in front of her home on Mother’s Day, 2017.

NYT will produce with Blumhouse, and Caitlin Roper, NYT’s executive producer for scripted projects, is producing alongside the article’s writer, Azam Ahmed, and Jason Blum.

Anonymous Content represented the article in the sale process.

The story, titled She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One, ignited a heated bidding immediately after it was published December 15.

Ahmed is NYT bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. His article tells the story of the 56-year-old Rodriguez, whose whole world came crashing down on her when she lost her daughter, despite paying multiple ransom demands after the 20-year-old was kidnapped in 2014.

Getting no help from law enforcement, Rodriguez took things into her own hands. Using disguises and different identities, she went after the alleged kidnappers. She even used a gun to hold the culprits until she could get them handcuffed and arrested. Her story is juxtaposed with the plight of another family desperate for a happier outcome after their son is kidnapped.

Ahmed reported a series on the homicide crisis in Latin America, the deadliest region in the world, outlining the root causes of the violence. Each piece delved into a specific issue in a specific country, using intimate portraits of those living on the front lines of the crisis: the inescapable cycles of violence in Honduras, the scourge of femicide in Guatemala, the pervasiveness of illegally smuggled U.S. guns in Jamaica, the making of a cartel assassin in Mexico and the violence of the state in Brazil.

Last month, Azam won the Michael Kelly Award for his courageous and moving work for this series.

Azam’s reporting for this series has also been recognized this year with a Polk award, an Overseas Press Club award and the James Foley Medill Medal, which recognizes courage in pursuit of a story. Ahmed’s investigative work on corruption and the illegal use of spyware, Pegasus, helped launch federal investigations in México and led to major arrests and reform and the project was submitted by The Times for a Pulitzer Prize. Azam was previously the NYT bureau chief in Afghanistan, where he worked for nearly three years covering the war.

Dascha Polanco to Star in Fox’s Forensic Genealogy-Themed Crime Drama Pilot “Blood Relative”

It’s all relative for Dascha Polanco

The 37-year-old Dominican actress will star opposite Tate Donovan and Melissa Leo in the Fox pilot Blood Relative.

Dascha Polanco

The forensic genealogy-themed crime drama hails from writer-producer Chris Levinson and producer Liza Chasin

Blood Relative is based on James Renner’s 2018 article “Beyond the Jungle of Bad: The True Story of Two Women from California Who Are Solving All the Mysteries,” about Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and Dr. Margaret Press, who combined their genealogy expertise to push the boundaries of forensic science and helped law enforcement identify Joe and Jane Does and track down serial killers.

Written by Levinson and Renner and to be directed by Phillip NoyceBlood Relativecenters on genetic genealogy, the best new tool in crime scene forensics, and nobody knows it like Louise Kelly (Leo). Too bad she’s impossible to deal with.

Polanco will play Maria Alvarez, a woman making lemonade out of lemons. She and her hearing-impaired 8-year-old son Sam live with her home psychic mother while Maria goes to night school to get her Ph.D. in psychology (she will eventually go to work at the same Parish Precinct as John (Donovan). Maria’s reason for wanting to work with cops? She’s spent her entire life in their world. Twenty years ago, her father Diego was convicted of murder. Maria is stunned to learn that the police have discovered the body of Gary Northrup – the very man her father is accused of killing. Lou’s DNA genius might prove her father’s innocence. Maria’s life will be changed by this new science and this oh so unique woman. She’ll also prove to be one of the only people alive who speaks “Lou,” making her an invaluable asset. 

Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content co-produce with Fox Entertainment.

Polanco rose to acclaim as Dayanara Diaz on all seven seasons of Netflix’s Orange is the New BlackShe’ll next co-star in Lin Manuel-Miranda’s In the Heights and as the female lead alongside Sylvester Stallone in Samaritan.

Polanco’s other credits include Netflix’s When They See UsThe Irishman and FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

Polanco was high on Fox’s wish list of talent for pilots this season. Her deal for Blood Relativewas in negotiations when pilot season ground to a halt in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

JanLuis Castellanos to Star in the Fourth & Final Season of Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why”

Jan Luis Castellanos has 13 reasons to celebrate…

The 24-year-old Dominican actor has been cast as a series regular opposite Dylan Minnette in the upcoming fourth and final season of Netflix’s YA drama 13 Reasons Why.

Jan Luis Castellanos

Castellanos will play Diego Torres, a charismatic, aggressive, and fiercely loyal leader of a divided football team struggling to understand the loss of one of their own. But as Diego grapples with his own grief and confusion, his violent temper masking a hurting heart, he finds himself falling for one of Liberty High’s most complicated women—leaving him caught between past and present, wondering who he can trust.

Created by Brian Yorkey, the final season of the drama from Paramount Television Studiosand Anonymous Contentwill feature the core cast’s graduation.

Minnette, Brandon FlynnJustin PrenticeAlisha BoeChristian NavarroMiles HeizerDevin DruidRoss ButlerTimothy GranaderosAnne WintersSteven WeberBrenda StrongAmy Hargreavesand Grace Saifstar.

Castellanos also is set to star in sci-fi series Don’t Look Deeper, set to premiere on Quibi. He previously starred as Topher in Hulu’s original series Marvel’s Runaways

USA Network to Premiere Rosario Dawson’s “Briarpatch” Series in February

Rosario Dawsonis heading to the small screen this February…

USA Network has set the mid-winter premiere date for Sam Esmail’s new anthology drama Briarpatchled by 40-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actress on Thursday, February 6.

Rosario Dawson

Briarpatchfollows Allegra Dill (Dawson), a no-nonsense professional who returns to her quirky hometown to solve her sister’s murder. 

The inaugural season celebrates the genres represented by Ross Thomas’ book — a stylish blend of crime and pulp fiction — while updating his sense of fun, danger and place for a new generation. 

Jay R. FergusonEdi GathegiBrian Geraghty and Kim Dickens also star.

The 10-episode Briarpatchwas written for television by Greenwald, who executive produces alongside Esmail through his production company Esmail Corp and Anonymous Content’s Chad Hamilton

Dawson also is a producer on the series from UCP and Paramount Television.