Disney+ Releases New Trailer for Original Series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” Featuring Charlie Bushnell

Charlie Bushnell is at your percy

Disney+ has released a new teaser for its upcoming original series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, featuring the 19-year-old half-Latino actor, based on best-selling book series by Rick Riordan.

Charlie BushnellThe series will debut with a two-episode premiere on December 20, 2023 on Disney+, followed by new episodes weekly.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god, Zeus, accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.

The series stars Walker Scobell (“Percy Jackson”), Leah Sava Jeffries (“Annabeth Chase”), Aryan Simhadri (“Grover Underwood”) and features notable guest stars Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hermes”), Megan Mullally (“Alecto” aka “Mrs. Dodds”), Toby Stephens (“Poseidon”), Virginia Kull (“Sally Jackson”), Jason Mantzoukas (“Dionysus” aka “Mr. D”), Jay Duplass (“Hades”), Glynn Turman (“Chiron” aka “Mr. Brunner”), the late Lance Reddick (“Zeus”), Adam Copeland (“Ares”), Bushnell (“Luke Castellan”), Dior Goodjohn (“Clarisse La Rue”), Jessica Parker Kennedy (“Medusa”), Olivea Morton (“Nancy Bobofit”), Suzanne Cryer (“Echidna”), Timm Sharp (“Gabe Ugliano”) and Timothy Omundson (“Hephaestus”).

Riordan worked closely with the creative team and showrunners Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz on the series, which, per Disney+, stays true to his vision for popular literary characters.

The first two episodes are written by Riordan and Steinberg and directed by James Bobin.

Andy Garcia to Star in Netflix’s “The Pain Hustlers”

Andy Garcia is hustlin’…

The 66-year-old Cuban actor has joined the cast of David Yates’ Netflix film The Pain Hustlers.

Andy GarciaGarcia will star opposite Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Catherine O’HaraJay Duplass, Brian d’Arcy James and Chloe Coleman.

The film billed as tonally similar to The Big ShortAmerican Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street follows Liza Drake (Blunt), a high-school dropout dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter. Liza lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical startup in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida. Her charm, guts and drive then catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences.

Netflix acquired global rights to the film written by Wells Tower for $50M out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Garcia is an Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy nominee whose recent film credits include Warner Bros. and HBO Max’s Father of the BrideGuy Ritchie’s actioner Wrath of Man; the comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, with Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo and Jamie Dornan; the romantic drama Words on Bathroom Walls, with Charlie Plummer and Taylor Russell; Clint Eastwood’s crime drama, The Mule; Sacha Gervasi’s Emmy-nominated TV movie My Dinner with Hervé for HBO; Ol Parker’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again; and the comedy Book Club, with Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda and Candice Bergen.

The actor’s credits on the television side include RebelFlipped and Ballers.

He’ll next be seen in the romantic drama What About Love with Sharon Stone, Lionsgate’s The Expendables 4 and Focus Features Book Club 2: The Next Chapter, among other projects.

Natalie Morales to Make Solo Feature Directorial Debut with “Plan B”

Natalie Morales is heading behind the camera…

The 35-year-old Cuban American actress, who most recently starred in the second season of Netflix’s Emmy-nominated series Dead to Me, will make her solo feature directorial debut with Plan B, a Counterbalance Entertainment and American High comedy that’s set up at Hulu.

Natalie Morales

Set to begin production next month in Syracuse, NY, the film follows a straight-laced high school student and her slacker best friend who, after a regrettable first sexual encounter, have 24 hours to hunt down a Plan B pill in America’s heartland.

Prathi Srinivasan and Joshua Levy penned the screenplay.

Morales has directed and starred in multiple episodes of HBO’s Room 104 from creators Jay and Mark Duplass. On the big screen, her recent credits include Fox’s Stuber with Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Warner Bros.forthcoming The Little Things drama with Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Rami Malek.

Hayek’s “Beatriz at Dinner” to Open This Year’s Sundance Film Festival: London

Salma Hayek’s latest project is ready to see the Sun(dance) across the pond…

Miguel Arteta’s Beatriz at Dinner, starring the 50-year-old Mexican actress, will open this year’s Sundance Film Festival: London.

Salma Hayek in Beatriz at Dinner

The film, which had its world premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, will be introduced to London audiences by Arteta, Hayek and screenwriter Mike White in the capital city’s Picturehouse Central cinema on June 1.

In the critically acclaimed film, Hayek plays Beatriz, an immigrant from a poor town in Mexico, who has drawn on her innate kindness to build a career as a health practitioner in Southern California. Don Strutt is a real estate developer whose cutthroat tactics have made him a self-made, self-satisfied billionaire. When the two polar opposites meet at a dinner party, their worlds collide and neither is ever the same.

The dark comedy also stars Connie Britton, Chloe Sevigny and Jay Duplass.

Roadside Attractions is set to release the title in the United States on June 9.

“We look forward to launching our fifth festival in London with Beatriz at Dinner, a masterful dramedy of errors from director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Mike White and starring Salma Hayek,” said Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper. “This was a standout at our Utah Festival in January and is a wonderful example of the continued innovation and creativity of our independent filmmakers that we’ll showcase in London again this year.”

The full program for the fifth edition of Sundance’s London edition is expected to be announced soon. It will feature international and UK premieres of films from films that were featured in Sundance in January.

Sundance Institute will also be launching a festival in Hong Kong in September.

Sundance Film Festival: London will take place from June 1-4.

Cannavale to Appear in “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors” Series

Bobby Cannavale is ready to talk shop…

Variety and PBS SoCal have announced the line-up for the fourth installment of their awards season series “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors,” with the 45-year-old half-Cuban American actor making the final cut.

Bobby Cannavale in Vinyl

Available to stream on Variety.com, the new “Actors on Actors” season will feature one-on-one discussions between this year’s Emmy contenders.

Along with Cannavale, who stars in HBO’s Vinyl, this year’s conversations, which will be printed in the June 7 issue of Variety, will also include Aziz Ansari (“Master of None”), Rachel Bloom (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”), Emilia Clarke (“Game of Thrones”), Jamie Lee Curtis (“Scream Queens”), Kirsten Dunst (“Fargo”), Jay Duplass (“Transparent”), Billy Eichner (“Difficult People”), Sam Heughan (“Outlander”), Tom Hiddleston (“The Night Manager”), Felicity Huffman (“American Crime”), Lady Gaga (“American Horror Story”), Jennifer Lopez (“Shades of Blue”), Rob Lowe (“Grinder”), Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”), Thomas Middleditch (“Silicon Valley”), Aaron Paul (“The Path”), Sarah Paulson (“American Crime Story”), Krysten Ritter (“Jessica Jones”), Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”), Patrick Stewart (“Blunt Talk”), John Travolta (“American Crime Story”), Courtney B. Vance (“American Crime Story”) and Kerry Washington (“Confirmation”).

“Variety is thrilled to cover the best actors on television in this season’s ‘Actors on Actors’ for PBS stations,” said Variety‘s executive TV editor Debra Birnbaum in a statement. “This season’s lineup includes actors from some of the top new television programs and showcases the wide diversity of roles for actors on broadcast, cable and streaming platforms.”

PBS SoCal will premiere the segment in two episodes, one on June 12 and the other on June 19.

“Through their craft, the actors interviewed on ‘Actors on Actors’ effortlessly spark our imaginations and take us to new places,” said PBS SoCal president and CEO Andy Russell in a statement. “Through this partnership with Variety we are pleased to enhance the experience of fans of great television – providing them greater insight into the people who bring them their favorite dramas, comedies and more.”