Raul Esparza  to Star in FX’s Limited Series “Retreat”

Raul Esparza is going on retreat

The 51-year-old Cuban American actor and Broadway star has been cast in FX’s Retreat, a limited series from Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij.

Raul EsparzaLed by Emma Corrin, the list of new additions to the cast includes Clive OwenHarris Dickinson, Alice Braga, Jermaine FowlerJoan ChenEdoardo Ballerini Pegah Ferydoni, Ryan J. Haddad and Javed Khan.

Retreat is a radical conceptualization of the whodunit with a new kind of detective at the helm — a gen Z amateur sleuth named Darby Hart (Corrin). Darby and 11 other guests are invited by a reclusive billionaire to participate in a Retreat at a remote and dazzling location. When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must fight to prove it was murder against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life.

Esparza is David; Owen plays Andy; Marling portrays Lee; Dickinson is Bill; Braga plays Sian; Fowler is Martin; Chen portrays Lu Mei; Ballerini plays Ray; Ferydoni portrays Ziba; Haddad plays Oliver and Khan is Rohan.

Marling and Batmanglij will write and direct the series. FX Productions is the studio.

Esparza is best known for his role as New York Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Rafael Barba in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

He received Tony Award nominations for his roles as Philip Salon in the Boy George musical Taboo in 2004; Robert in the musical comedy Company in 2006; Lenny in Harold Pinter‘s play The Homecoming in 2008; and Charlie Fox in David Mamet‘s play Speed-the-Plow in 2009.

Ana De Armas to Star in the Action-Thriller “Three Seconds”

It’s a matter of seconds for Ana De Armas

The 29-year-old Cuban actress has landed a role in Andrea Di Stefano’s Three Seconds, based on the best-selling Swedish novel by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström.

Ana De Armas

She joins a cast that includes Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Common and Clive Owen.

The action-thriller was written by Matt Cook, with revisions by Rowan Joffé and current revisions by DiStefano.

The story follows reformed criminal and former Special Ops soldier Pete Hoffman who, in order to free himself from jail and return to his wife and daughter, has been working undercover for crooked FBI handlers to infiltrate the Polish mob’s drug trade in New York. In a final step toward freedom, Hoffman must return to the one place he’s fought so hard to leave: Bale Hill Prison, where his mission becomes a race against time when a drug deal goes wrong and threatens his identity as a mole.

De Armas will play Hoffman’s wife, Sofia, a small-businesswoman who owns a grocery store. She most recently was seen in Hands of Stone with Edgar Ramirez and Robert De Niro, and War Dogs with Jonah Hill and Miles Teller.

She’ll next appear in Blade Runner 2049 with Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, which will bow in the U.S. on October 6 via Warner Bros.

Trailer Released for Vazquez’s New Film with Tom Hanks “Captain Phillips”

Yul Vazquez will soon be hitting the high seas with Tom Hanks

The Cuban American actor, who currently appears on Starz’s Magic City, is starring as Captain Frank Castellano in the Hanks-headlined film Captain Phillips, which has been named the opening-night film at the prestigious New York Film Festival next month.

Yul Vazquez

Directed by Paul Greengrass, the Sony Pictures film tells the true story of Captain Richard Phillips (portrayed by Hanks) and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama.

Phillips was eventually rescued in a dangerous mission by a Navy SEAL team.

Along with Hanks and Vazquez, the film also stars Catherine Keener, Max Martini, Michael Chernus, Chris Mulkey, John Magaro and Angus MacInnes.

Captain Phillips is set to hit theaters on October 11.

Vazquez’s other upcoming projects include Runner Runner with Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake, Blood Ties with Mila Kunis, Clive Owen and Marion Cotillard and Kill The Messenger directed by Michael Cuesta opposite Jeremy Renner.

 

Lionsgate Acquires U.S. Rights to Saldaña’s “Blood Ties”

Zoë Saldaña’s next project will have blood ties to the United States…

Lionsgate’s Roadside Attractions has acquired the U.S. distribution rights for Blood Ties, Guillaume Canet’s English-language directorial debut starring the 34-year-old Puerto Rican/Dominican-American actress and Star Trek Into Darkness starlet.

Zoe Saldana

Lionsgate reportedly paid $2 million to close the deal on the film, which centers on two brothers, one a cop and one an ex-con.

It’s based on the French film Les Liens Du Sang, which starred Canet. He stayed behind the camera for this one with Saldaña, Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, Maroin Cotillard, Domenick Lombardozzi, Mila Kunis, Matthias Schoenaerts and James Caan starring.

CBS Orders “Second Sight” Pilot from Cuesta

It may turn out to be love at first sight for Michael Cuesta’s latest project for the Eye Network.

CBS has given the pilot greenlight for the 49-year-old Latino filmmaker’s Second Sight, which he and CSI executive producer/showrunner Carol Mendelsohn adapted from a 2000 British television series of the same name starring Clive Owen.

Michael Cuesta

Second Sight is described as a gothic psychological thriller about a detective who is suddenly afflicted with an autoimmune virus that causes hallucinations reflective of his subconscious. He discovers that catching the killer depends as much on insight as eyesight.

Cuesta, who recently picked up a Producers Guild Award for Showtime’s Homeland, wrote the adaptation with his brother Gerald Cuesta. The two previously joined forces for another CBS drama project, the cult 2007 zombie pilot Babylon Fields, which Gerald co-wrote and Michael directed.

Cuesta is set to direct Second Sight, which he’s executive producing with Mendelsohn, Julie Weitz, Paula Milne, who created the original series, and Nick Reed.

There are four series currently on the air whose pilots Cuesta directed: Showtime’s Homeland and Dexter and CBS’ Blue Bloods and Elementary.

Saldaña to Bring Joy Castro’s “Hell Or High Water” to Life…

Zoë Saldaña is looking to bring a mystery novel to life…

Saldaña has teamed up with producers Jane Startz and Aida Bernal to option the mystery thriller Hell or High Water.

Zoe Saldana

The 34-year-old half-Puerto Rican & half-Dominican American actress and her sister Cisley’s Saldaña Productions will work with Jane Startz Productions and Bernal’s Spellbound Entertainment to bring the novel to the screen.

The companies are currently trying to figure out whether Joy Castro‘s debut novel will be made into a feature or a television series.

Hell or High Water follows New Orleans reporter Nola Céspedes as she is dragged into the city’s post-Katrina underworld on the trail of what she thinks will be her big scoop. The novel was released July 17 by Thomas Dunne Books and was named one of the best books of 2012 by The Kirkus Review.

Hell or High Water

Saldaña is starring in the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek Into Darkness, which will be released on May 17, 2013.

She’ll next be seen alongside Clive Owen in Blood Ties, directed by Guillaume Canet.

Cuesta to Adapt British Cop Drama “Second Sight” for CBS

Michael Cuesta has some serious blind ambition that he’s bringing to the small screen…

The 49-year-old Latino filmmaker, who served as a director/executive producer of the Emmy-winning Homeland, has partnered with CSI executive producer/showrunner Carol Mendelsohn to develop and create Second Sight, a drama series based on the 2000 British television series of the same name starring Clive Owen.

Michael Cuesta

Cuesta’s project—which has been set up at CBS through CBS Television Studios, where Cuesta signed an overall deal early this year—centers on a homicide detective going blind who turns his affliction into an advantage – using his heightened senses and intuition to solve crimes.

Cuesta is set to pen the adaptation with his brother Gerald Cuesta. The two previously teamed for another CBS drama project, the cult zombie pilot Babylon Fields, which Gerald co-wrote and Michael directed.

Cuesta is slated to direct Second Sight, which he is executive producing with Mendelsohn.

Cuesta recently picked up an Emmy for Homeland‘s best drama series win. He was also nominated for directing the pilot of the psychological thriller.

Cuesta has directed six episodes of Homeland so far, including the pilot, the second episode, the two-part first-season finale and the second season opener, which premiered on Sunday.

 

There are four series currently on the air whose pilots he directed: Showtime’s Homeland and Dexter and CBSBlue Bloods and Elementary.

Alba Preparing to Reprise Her Role in the “Sin City” Sequel

Jessica Alba is losing her hair (color) in her quest to prepare for her return to Sin City

The 31-year-old half-Mexican American has revealed her transformation back into her Sin City character Nancy Callahan via her Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Jessica Alba

Alba—who is returning to her iconic role for the sequel to the cult classic, which is being called Sin City: A Dame to Kill For—shared images of her blonde transformation.

“”Bye Bye Brown Hair” r u on viddy yet? I’m documenting my brown to Sin City blonde!” wrote Alba before getting her makeover.

Alba later followed up with more photos that showed her during the hair coloring process. Once she completed her transformation, she shared a photo of herself with her newly-lightened locks and wrote,

“She got roots that Nancy #sincity2.”

But Alba isn’t just changing her hair color… She’s also getting physical for the role.

Jessica Alba

The following day, Alba shared a photo of herself during training lessons at the gun range.

“What a way to start the day -training for a movie is sorta fun,” she announced.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For will focus on earlier story of Clive Owen‘s Dwight McCarthy, whose life is turned upside down when Ava, a woman from his past, returns and causes all sorts of problems for him.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, the film is slated for an October 4, 2013 release.

Alba’s co-stars include Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson and Michael Madsen.

Santoro to Reprise Iconic Role in “300” Sequel

He captured the attention of audiences as Persian “god-King” Xerxes in 300… And, now Rodrigo Santoro is set to reprise his creepily iconic and blinged-out role in the  sequel.

Rodrigo Santoro

Known as the “Brazilian Tom Cruise,” The 36-year-old half-Brazilian actor has signed on to appear opposite Eva Green in the still-untitled 300 sequel from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.

Rodrigo Santoro in 300

The film will begin shooting this summer, with Santoro and Green playing the villains this time around.

Santoro next stars opposite Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz in the upcoming comedy What To Expect When You’re Expecting, and he appears opposite Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen in the upcoming HBO feature Hemingway & Gelhorn.

Santoro, who rose to fame in Brazilian telenovelas, previously starred in Love Actually, Che and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

Saldaña May Star Opposite Megan Fox in Swindle

Zoë Saldaña could soon be sharing the screen with Megan Fox

Paramount Pictures has acquired the action-heist spec script Swindle as a starring vehicle for the 33-year-old half-Dominican/half-Puerto Rican American actress and Fox.

Zoe Saldana

The actresses will reportedly produce the film with Moneyball producer Michael De Luca, who is developing the project.

Paramount is remaining tight-lipped about the storyline for the project, which came out of a desire by Saldaña and Fox to do a movie together.

Saldana is currently shooting the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek sequel and will next star in the Guillaume Canet-directed Blood Ties, opposite Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, and Marion Cotillard.