Netflix Renews Pedro Alonso’s “Berlin” for Second Season

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Alonso isn’t leaving Berlin just yet…

Netflix has renewed Money Heist spinoff Berlin, starring the 52-year-old Spanish actor, writer and artist, for a second season.

Hailing from Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, the new season of the acclaimed series will begin filming next year.

Berlin, played by Alonso, will return alongside his entire gang for another run of the spinoff, which was made off the back of the huge global success of Netflix Spain’s La Casa de Papel (Money Heist). The series acts as a prequel to Money Heist, following the protagonist on a different caper.

Along with Alonso, the series also stars Michelle Jenner, who plays Keila, an expert in electronic engineering, Tristán Ulloa as Damián, a philanthropic professor and Berlin’s confidant, Begoña Vargas is Cameron, a kamikaze who always lives on the edge, Julio Peña Fernández plays Roi, Berlin’s faithful squire, and Joel Sánchez brings Bruce to life, the relentless man of action in the gang.

Netflix said Berlin was its most-watched series globally during premiere week last year, reaching the top 10 in 91 countries. It then remained in the non-English TV top 10 for seven consecutive weeks, amassing 348 million hours viewed and 53 million total views, Netflix added.

Pina’s Vancouver Media is producing again.

Money Heist ran for three seasons across five parts, first on local network Antena 3 and then on Netflix. It ended in 2021 and is one of Netflix’s most popular international titles of all time.

Luis Fernández Starring in the Spanish-Serbian Thriller Series “Scar”

Posted on November 25, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Luis Fernández is revealing his scar…

The 38-year-old Spanish actor is starring in the Asacha Media-backed Spanish-Serbian thriller series Scar (Cicatriz) has taken shape.

Fernandez stars alongside Milena Radulovic and Juanlu González in the scripted series, with Stefan Kapicic, Mladen Sovilj, Goran Susljik and Julen Serrano also attached.

Cameras are already rolling in Spain on the European co-production from Plano a Plano, Dopamine and Adrenalin.

Scar is billed as follows: “An enigmatic woman with a mysterious scar across her face, Irina (Radulovic) has lived with the emotional scars of tragedy since she was a young child and ever since, has been intent on exacting revenge.”

Fernández is known for roles in Antena 3 fantasy series Los Protegidos, and other shows such as A Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo, Desaparecidos and Servir y Proteger.

Radulovic is known for Serbian-British drama series Besa and Russian thriller Superdeep, while González starred in Netflix’s Valeria and the popular Spanish TV crime series La Caza, La Otra Mirada and features including Operación Camarón.

González will play a gifted IT specialist with no social skills who meets Irina through a dating app and falls head over heels in love with her, drawing him into her dangerous and complex world.

Fernández will play his best friend and business partner, a charismatic and frivolous extrovert who acts as his connection to the real world.

Growing European production group Asacha Media brought about the co-production between Spanish-language producers Plano a Plano and Dopamine and Serbia’s Adrenalin. The series was made in association with Spanish pubcaster RTVE, Prime Video Spain and Telekom Srbija.

Filming has begun in Bilbao, with Miguel Ángel Vivas, Manuel Carballo and Alejandro Bazzano directing. Fernando Sancristóbal, Pablo Roa and Verónica Marza are the writers.

Fernando Soto to Star in Vix+’s Spanish-Language Series “Travesuras de la Niña Mala”

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Fernando Soto is getting into trouble…

The 54-year-old Spanish actor and director has joined the cast Vix+’s Spanish-language series Travesuras de la Niña Mala, which is based on the novel by Nobel prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa.

In addition Vix+ has revealed a first look trailer.

Soto, who plays Ángel in Antena 3/Netflix smash Money Heist will be joined by co-star Fernando Cayo, who plays Coronel Tamayo.

They join previously announced stars Juan Pablo Di Pace and Macarena Achaga.

Others to join the cast include Martijn Kuiper, Rowi Prieto, Vanessa Saba, Victor Civeira, Nestor Rodulfo, Steph Bumelcrownd and Javier Dulzaldes.

Money Heist director Alejandro Bazzano is helming the show and has been joined by director Pavel Vázquez.

Filmed in London and Paris, TelevisaUnivision’s flagship series for Vix+ tells the epic love story between Arlette (Achaga), a nonconformist and adventurous woman, and her once teenage love, Ricardo, a man trapped in a predictable routine. Thanks to Arlette, he slowly learns to get out of his comfort zone. These two characters’ lives will intertwine over 40 years, through reunions across Lima, Paris, Madrid, Tokyo, London, and more.

María López Castaño wrote the series based on the acclaimed novel of the same name.

Buendia Estudios to Adapt Antonio Gala’s Erotic Novel “La Pasion Turca” Into Spanish TV Series

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Gala’s passion project is getting a television adaptation…

The 92-year-old Spanish poet, playwright, novelist and writer’s erotic novel La Pasion Turca will be adaptated into a series by Buendia Estudios.

The popular novel was last adapted into a hit feature film in 1994 with the late Vicente Aranda directing and Andres Vicente Gomez of Lolafilms producing. It starred singer-actress Ana Belen in what is considered her most successful film.

The new six-episode series, which is set to air on Spanish free-to-air channel Antena 3 and streamer AtresPlayer Premium, will start shooting by the end of October in Turkey for seven weeks before moving to Madrid.

The cast will be made up of Spanish, Turkish and Italian talent.

The story revolves around Olivia, a Spanish Fine Arts teacher who wakes from a coma in an Istanbul hospital after having attempted suicide. There it is revealed, as she’s being interrogated by an inspector, that she has likely been involved in an art smuggling ring alongside her Turkish lover, Yaman. Flashbacks reveal the torrid affair with Yaman that made her abandon her life’s work in Spain. As the law tightens its noose around her, she agrees to go back to Yaman and inform the authorities of his movements.

The Atresmedia TV original is penned by Irene Rodríguez and Esther Morales and will be directed by Iñaki Peñafiel.

Kate del Castillo to Star in the Off Broadway Production of Isaac Gomez’s “the way she spoke”

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Kate del Castillois ready to take the stage…

The 46-year-old Mexican actress, who starred in Telemundo’s wildly popular La Reina del Sur series, will return to the New York stage this summer in the Off Broadway production of Isaac Gomez’s the way she spoke, directed by Jo Bonney as the next Audible Theater production at the Minetta Lane Theatre.

Previews begin on Monday, July 8, with opening night set for Thursday, July 18. The Minetta Lane, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, is home base for Audible’s live performances, with productions recorded and released by Audible as audio plays.

the way she spoke follows an actress who enters a theater, picks up a script, and begins to read a story that reveals “disturbing and haunting accounts of the murder of thousands of women in Juarez, Mexico and one playwright’s journey of discovery and responsibility.”

According to Audible’s description, “As lines blur between theatricality and reality, intense and provocative questions are raised and demand deeper examination. Based on a series of intimate interviews, this one-woman play demonstrates the power of speaking truth, even as it considers the implications of doing so.”

Kate Navin, Audible Artistic Producer, called Gomez’s play “deeply moving,” and that del Castillo’s “raw and inspiring performance is sure to captivate our live audiences in New York City and resonate with Audible members everywhere.”

The creative team includes Riccardo Hernandez (scenic design), Emilio Sosa (costume design), Lap Chi Chu(lighting design), Elisheba Ittoop(sound design), and Aaron Rhyne(projection design).

del Castillo, set to co-star with Will Smithand Martin Lawrencein 2020’s Bad Boys For Life, has been a popular star of Mexican television since her teens, but her performance on La Reina del Sur in 2011 became a cultural phenomenon. A second season launched last month. The series, produced by Telemundo and Spain’s Antena 3, is a primetime serial that chronicles del Castillo’s Teresa character, a Mexican woman who rises to great power through international drug trafficking (Alice Bragaplays the character in USA Networks’ American version Queen of the South).

del Castillo’s other credits include Jane The Virgin, Under the Same Moon, The 33, All About Nina, and the upcoming Bad Boys For Life.

Off-screen, del Castillo made international news when, after controversially tweeting about El Chapoin 2012, the actress was contacted by a lawyer for the Mexican drug lord to discuss a biopic about him (El Chapo, it turned out, was a del Castillo superfan, with a stockpile of La Reina del Sur DVDs found at the safe house raided by Mexican intelligence agencyCISEN.) Later, del Castillo helped arrange the meeting between El Chapo and actor Sean Penn.

ABC Orders Pilot of the Eva Longoria-Produced Drama “Grand Hotel”

Posted on February 4, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a grand old time for Eva Longoria…

ABC has ordered a pilor for the soapy drama Grand Hotel based on the Spanish series, from the 42-year-old Mexican American actress and former Desperate Housewives star and the hit ABC/ABC Studios dramedy’s writer Brian Tanen.

Written by Tanen, Grand Hotel is a soap opera-like drama set against the backdrop of a Miami Beach hotel, centering around the family who owns the business, the staff who run it, and the explosive secrets they hide under the perfect exterior.

Longoria and Ben Spector are executive producing via UnbeliEVAble Entertainment alongside Tanen as well as Oliver Bachert and Christian Gockel of Beta Film, which distributed the original series.

UnveliEVAble, ABC and ABC Studios also developed a Grand Hotel adaptation last season with a different writer.

Televisa USA previously took a stab at an English-language adaptation of the series set in pre-Castro Havana.

Gran Hotel (aka Grand Hotel) was created and produced by Bambu Producciones and ran on Spain’s Antena 3 for three seasons, with its first season reaching a 18.5% share. Dubbed “a Spanish Downton Abbey,” the original series, set in 1905 Spain, has been a top international seller for Beta Films.

Eva Longoria Developing English-Adaptation of Spain’s “Gran Hotel” for ABC

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Eva Longoria is having a gran old time…

ABC is developing Grand Hotel, a soapy drama from the42-year-old Mexican American actress/producer and former Desperate Housewives star and writer Brian Tanen.

The project, from Longoria and Ben Spector’s UnveliEVAble Entertainment and ABC Studios, is based on the popular Spanish telenovela Gran Hotel.

Written by Tanen, Grand Hotel is a soapy drama set against the backdrop of a Miami Beach hotel, centering around the family who owns the business, the staff who run it, and the explosive secrets they hide under the perfect exterior.

Tanen, Longoria and Spector executive produce alongside Oliver Bachert and Christian Gockel of Beta Film, which distributes the original series.

UnveliEVAble, ABC and ABC Studios also developed a Grand Hotel adaptation last season with a different writer. Televisa USA previously took a stab at an English-language adaptation of the series set in pre-Castro Havana.

Gran Hotel was created and produced by Bambu Producciones and ran on Spain’s Antena 3 for three seasons, with its first season reaching a 18.5% share.

Dubbed “a Spanish Downton Abbey,” the original series, set in 1905 Spain, has been a top international seller for Beta Films.

Longoria recently teamed with another former Desperate Housewives writer, David Schulner, for immigrant drama Lucky Boy, with Nisha Ganatra directing.

Televisa USA to Adapt Spain’s Hit Drama Series “Gran Hotel” in English

Posted on September 26, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Spain’s Downton Abbey is getting an English makeover…

Televisa USA is breaking ground on Gran Hotel, an English-language adaptation of the popular Spanish series.

Stephen Kronish, the executive producer of 24 and The Kennedys, will pen the project, which will move the setting for the mystery drama from 1905 Spain to pre-Castro Havanam Cuba.

In the new version, following his sister’s disappearance, Julio is led on a dangerous journey that takes him to the opulent Gran Hotel, a frequent getaway for the rich, powerful, famous and infamous and into the arms of the sexy daughter of the hotel’s wealthy owner.

“It was a time when mobsters, politicians and celebrities flocked to Havana, the world’s most exotic and permissive playground,” said Chris Philip, head of Production and Distribution at Televisa USA. “Setting Gran Hotel in a sexy, sinful atmosphere offers up a rich fusion of glamour and intrigue deeply rooted in an exceptional murder mystery format with a proven global footprint.”

Televisa USA, a subsidiary of the Mexican media company Grupo Televisa, is teaming up with Lantica Media for the series, which will be shot at Lantica’s Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios.

It’s one of several projects planned for Lantica to co-develop and co-finance with Televisa.

Televisa USA plans to shop the series to U.S. and international buyers.

The original Gran Hotel was created and produced by Bambu Producciones and ran on Spain’s Antena 3 for three seasons, with its first season reaching a 18.5% share.

Dubbed “a Spanish Downton Abbey,” the original series has been a top international seller for Beta Films, which is co-producing an Italian version airing on RAI. As a finished series, Gran Hotel has been sold to networks in France, the UK and Russia.

Iglesias Releases Dancetastic Music Video for His Latest Single “Bailando”

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Enrique Iglesias will be bailando-ing his way into your heart in no time…

The 38-year-old Spanish singer-songwriter has released the official music video for his latest single “Bailando.”

In the clip, a young Cuban flamenco troupe swirling in red dresses meets up with some talented street dancers with mad soccer skills to create an unforgettable choreographed encounter.

“This video is one of the favorites of my career,” Iglesias said during an appearance Spanish channel Antena 3‘s entertainment show El Hormiguero.

The video features Iglesias with Descemer Bueno – the Cuban singer/songwriter who co-wrote the song with him, and Cuban reggaeton band Gente de Zona.

The video, which premiered on VEVO, was directed by Cuban Alejandro Perez, and includes footage shot in the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The featured dancers are from Havana’s Ballet Litz Alfonso.

Bueno, one of Cuba’s biggest stars, has collaborated with Iglesias on past hits “Loco,” “Cuando Me Enamoro,” “Lloro por ti,” and “No Digas Que No.”

The writing partners composed “Bailando” over a year ago, and Bueno recorded a first version of the song with Gente de Zona and shot a similar video in Havana. Iglesias and the Cuban artists also recorded an English version of the song with Sean Paul.

Iglesias’ Sex & Love is currently No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart.

He’ll next make an appearance at the Billboard Latin Music Conference for the Superstar Q&A on April 23.

Iglesias is a seven-time finalist for the Billboard Latin Music Awards, airing live April 24 on Telemundo.

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