Antonio Banderas Teams Up with Andrew Lloyd Webber to Launch Amigos Para Siempre, Aimed at Spanish-Speaking Outreach

Antonio Banderas is teaming up with Broadway legend to entertain more Spanish speakers.

The 61-year-old Spanish actor is joining forces with his longtime friend and fellow collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber under the banner of new company Amigos Para Siempre (APS), aimed at producing theatre, musicals and live entertainment shows, including some of Webber’s best-loved works, for major Spanish-speaking markets.

Under the initiative, Spanish-language rights to Webber’s shows will be ceded to the new company by the UK composer’s London-based company Really Useful Group.

Shows earmarked for Spanish adaptations include The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard, Starlight Express, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cinderella, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and School of Rock.

The name of the company derives from a song Webber composed for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, which was performed at the closing ceremony by Sarah Brightman and José Carreras.

The pair announced the new initiative at a media event in the Spanish capital of Madrid on Monday.

“Not only is Antonio Banderas entertainment royalty, he is also one of the most versatile, creative minds I have ever had the pleasure of working with,” said Webber.

“It is truly exciting to partner with Antonio to bring my work, as well as other brilliant Broadway and West End titles, to new markets. While millions of people in the Spanish-speaking world already love our shows and music, the appetite for more, and the level of musical and theatrical talent, is extraordinary. I can’t wait to work with Antonio to bring the very highest-quality Spanish language productions to the world.”

Acting star Banderas, who has been based in his Spanish hometown Malaga since 2019 after a stint living in the UK and nearly two decades in Los Angeles, now devotes much of his time to his Soho Theatre, alongside feature film shooting commitments.

Antonio Banderas to Star in the Thriller “The Last Girl” for Yale Entertainment

Antonio Banderas is saving the best for Last Girlll. 

The 61-year-old British singer has signed on to star in Jon Keeyes’ thriller The Last Girl for Yale Entertainment, which will head into production in Ireland this summer.

Antonio BanderasIn addition to Banderas, the project will also include Alice Eve and Shelley Hennig.

Written by Charles Burnley, the film stars Eve, who plays a private investigator forced into a dangerous alliance with a killer (Hennig) in order to uncover a quiet town’s grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor (Banderas), who is implicated in the crimes.

Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, and Michael J. Rothstein are producing for Yale Entertainment, along with Richard Bolger and Conor Barry from Hail Mary Pictures, and Richard Clabaugh.

Banderas’ decades-long career has spanned stage and screen, in both the United States and his native Spain. He’s a frequent collaborator of iconic Spanish writer-director Pedro Almodóvar, who has starred in a number of his most notable titles, including Pain and Glory, for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival, also landing an Academy Award nomination in the same category.  He can currently be seen starring with Penelope Cruz in the Spanish comedy Official Competition, is set to return as the voice of Puss in Boots in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and next year stars in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise.

Penélope Cruz Partnering with Mediapro Studio to Launch “Moonlyon” Production Label

Penélope Cruz is over the Moon(lyn)

The 47-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress and producer has teamed up with The Mediapro Studio to launch production label Moonlyon.

Penelope Cruz

The company will produce premium non-fiction and dramatic content, the two parties said in a release, and will allow Cruz to increase her output behind the camera.

One of the most recognizable names in Spanish cinema, while also being a star in Hollywood, Cruz has teamed with Mediapro on multiple occasions before, including more recently starring in Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s Official Competition opposite Antonio Banderas. Further recent credits including Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers, which scored her an Oscar nomination.

The wider Mediapro group has 24 offices producing a wide variety of content for cinema and television.

“I have always been enthusiastic about telling new stories and contributing to the filmmaking process, so I decided to form Moonlyon with The Mediapro Studio,” said Penélope Cruz. “With more demand than ever for stories from diverse backgrounds and new parts of the world, I am very happy to be able to continue my work as a producer with a company that I know intimately and that has valuable international positioning experience. Our goal is for Moonlyon to become a quality benchmark with a personality of its own.”

“We are really happy. It is a privilege to be Penélope Cruz’s partner in this new adventure,” commented Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of The Mediapro Studio. “We have been working with her for years and our relationship has grown very naturally. We will bring to MOONLYON our knowledge of the industry, our creativity, and our vision for a project that will form part of the international expansion strategy of the Studio.”

Salma Hayek to Reprise Kitty Softpaws Role in “Puss in Boots” Sequel “The Last Wish”

Salma Hayek Pinault is pawing her way back to the big screen…

The 55-year-old Mexican actress will reprise the role of Kitty Softpaws in the long-awaited Puss in Boots movie sequel The Last Wish.

Salma HayekHayek will re-team with Antonio Banderas, who voices the titular feline character, on the animated film.

Hayek and Banderas will contend with a third amigo this time around as Harvey Guillén (makes his franchise debut in the role of Perro, Kitty and Puss’ canine associate.

Also part of the A-list ensemble is Florence PughOlivia ColmanWagner MouraRay WinstoneJohn Mulaney, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Anthony Mendez and Samson Kayo.

The Last Wish follows the daring outlaw Puss in Boots as he discovers that his passion for peril and disregard for safety have taken their toll.

The original film, released in 2011, was a Shrek spinoff following Puss’ adventures prior to his debut appearance in Shrek 2Puss in Boots made more than $149 million at the domestic box office, and close to $555 million worldwide.

Talks of a follow-up go as far back as 2014. Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves was announced in June of that year with DreamWorks Animation setting a November release date. It was delayed by a month before it was removed from the schedule due to restructuring at DreamWorks.

After many more internal changes, The Last Wish finally received a September 23, 2022, release date with Banderas’ return confirmed.

Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado serve as director and co-director of The Last Wish, respectively; Mark Swift will produce.

The film is executive produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri. Universal is set to handle distribution.

The first trailer for the project will debut March 15.

Penélope Cruz to Star in Michael Mann’s Enzo Ferrari Biopic “Ferrari”

Penélope Cruz is revving her engines for a new role…

The 47-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress, who earned an Academy Award nod this week, will star in director Michael Mann’s passion project Ferrari.

Penelope CruzCruz is among a roster of All-Star cast members that includes Adam Driver and Shailene Woodley for the big-budget biopic of racing mogul Enzo Ferrari.

Driver is replacing Hugh Jackman in the title role while Parallel Mothers star Cruz will play Enzo’s wife Laura.  Woodley will play mistress Lina Lardi.

Four-time Oscar nominee Mann is gearing up for a May start in Italy.

STX is handling international rights and has now picked up the domestic rights in a big deal with Mann. Amazon is aboard in a handful of international markets. STX International will look to close remaining deals this week with some big international pacts already secured, including Leone in Italy.

The movie, which Mann has been working on for two decades, is set during the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver, Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another. He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.

The project has famously been through multiple iterations, but this is as far along as the casting has been at any stage.

Mann will direct from a script by Troy Kennedy and Mann based on Brock Yates’ book Enzo Ferrari – The Man and the Machine.

“Being able to have these wonderfully talented artists, actors Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley, bring to life these unique characters on location in Modena and the Emilia-Romagna is a vision fulfilled,” says Mann.

Ferrari is so much more than a story about a man and his machine,” says Adam Fogelson, Chairman of STXfilms Motion Picture. “It is an extraordinary and emotional story that Michael has been developing for years and the entire team at STX is looking forward to the start of production with this dream cast and filmmaker. Adam Driver is one of the most talented and fascinating actors working today, and we could not be more thrilled to pair him with Penélope, whose legendary career builds with every role she takes.”

Cruz, nominated this week for the Best Actress Oscar in Parallel Mothers, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and was nominated another two times for her roles in Volver and Nine. In addition to Parallel Mothers for Sony, she currently stars in IFC’s Official Competition opposite Antonio Banderas.

The CW Orders Six Additional Scripts of Robert Rodriguez’s Zorro Reboot Project with a Female Lead

Robert Rodriguez’s Zorro television project with a female lead is one step closer to becoming reality.

The CW has ordered an additional six scripts for the long-gestating Zorro reboot from the 53-year-old Mexican American filmmaker/writer, bringing the script total to 7.

Robert RodriguezIn addition to Rodriguez, the CW’s gender-swapped reimagining of the classic masked vigilante character also hails from writer-director Rebecca Rodriguez, Sean Tretta (Mayans M.C.), Ben Silverman and Howard T. OwensPropagate and CBS Studios.

The CW has not specified what the next step would be for Zorro if the network brass are happy with the new scripts, but a straight-to-series order is likely.

This is a variation of the straight-to-series model, which the network has employed with a different degree of success over the past two years.

The CW’s Zorro is a new incarnation of the project, which was in development at NBC during the 2020-21 cycle, with Tretta as a new addition to the brother-and-sister writing team of Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez.

Co-penned by the trio and to be directed by Rebecca Rodriguez, in Zorro, a young Latinx woman seeking vengeance for her father’s murder joins a secret society and adopts the outlaw persona of Zorro. The story by Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez was already in place when Tretta, who has an overall deal at CBS Studios, came on board earlier this cycle to write the script.

Tretta, who also will serve as showrunner, and Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez will executive produce with Silverman, Owens and Rodney Ferrell for Propagate.

Propagate originally set out to develop a Zorro TV series with a female lead in 2019 as one of the company’s first projects under its first-look deal with CBS Studios. The idea’s first incarnation, written by Alfredo Barrios Jr., was set up at NBC, as was the 2020-21 version with Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez, which also had Sofia Vergara attached as an executive producer. She is no longer involved in the project.

Robert Rodriguez was attached to direct The Mask of Zorro and cast Antonio Banderas as the title role before leaving the feature project.

In TV, he currently serves as an executive producer-director on Disney+’s The Book of Boba Fett. He previously developed and executive produced the series adaptation of his movie From Dusk Till Dawn for his television network El Rey and also executive produced the Spy Kids animated series offshoot for Netflix. He recently directed an episode of Disney+’s The Mandalorian.

Rebecca Rodriguez’s recent directing credits include episodes of HBO Max’s Doom PatrolNBC’s Debris, TNT’s Snowpiercer and Showtime’s The Chi.

Gina Rodriguez to Star In & Executive Produce TV Adaptation of Pedro Almodovar’s Classic Film “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”

Gina Rodriguez is on the verge of a breakdown

Apple has put in development a television series adaptation of Pedro Almodovar’s classic 1988 black comedy Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, with the 37-year-old Puerto Rican Golden Globe winning actress and former Jane The Virgin star set to star in and executive produce the series.

Gina RodriguezThe project hails from Almodovar’s El Deseo banner, Rodiguez’s I Can and I Will Productions, 3Pas Studios and Lionsgate Television. Noelle Valdivia will pen the series adaptation.

Rodriguez will play Pepa in the potential series, the role played by Carmen Maura in the film, which would feature a mix of English and Spanish, sources tell Deadline.

Almodovar will executive produce for El Deseo, along with Rodriguez and Molly Breeskin for Rodriguez’s I Can and I Will Productions. 3Pas Studios’ Eugenio Derbez and Ben Odell will also executive produce, Sonia Gambaro will co-produce.

The series is produced by Lionsgate Television, where Derbez is under an overall deal.

The 1988 film, starring Maura and Antonio Banderas, brought Almodóvar widespread international attention following its debut at the 45th International Venice Film Festival. It received a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination and won five Goya Awards including Best Film and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Maura.

Alex Rivera to Write & Direct “Zorro 2.0,” A Reimagining of the Iconic Character

Alex Rivera is ridin’ high…

The 48-year-old Peruvian American filmmaker, a recipient of a 2021 MacArthur Genius grant, will write and direct Zorro 2.0 for Sobini Films.

Alex Rivera

The film reimagines the iconic character as Oscar de la Vega, a young, undocumented hacker known as ‘z0rr0.’ While fighting back against a secret government unit that attacked his mother, he discovers a high-tech conspiracy that threatens not only his family but the world.

“I’ve always been interested in films that address real-world issues through genre,” Rivera said in a statement to Deadline. “This project is an opportunity to connect Zorro—the original masked avenger—to today’s border wars, a conflict in which immigrant families are pitted against regimes of hi-tech surveillance and government control. ‘Zorro 2.0’ will be visually elevated, socially grounded, sci-fi cinema, and I’m thrilled to be working with Sobini to get this vision on the screen.”

Sobini Films’ Mark Amin, Cami Winikoff and Tyler Boehm will produce. John Gertz of Zorro Productions International and Michael Helfant of Amasia Entertainment will serve as executive producers.

Zorro is a fictional character created by Johnston McCulley in 1919 widely recognized by his all-black costume featuring a sombrero, cape and mask. He’s been portrayed multiple times on the big and small screen by actors including Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power and Frank Langella.

Antonio Banderas most recently played the mysterious vigilante in 1998’s The Mask of Zorro and its 2005 sequel The Legend of Zorro.

A Zorro drama series with a female lead was being developed at NBC from Robert Rodriguez and Sofia Vergara last December.

Rivera made his feature film debut with 2008’s cyberpunk thriller Sleep Dealer set at the U.S.-Mexico border. He followed that with the doc/scripted hybrid The Infiltrators that tells a true story about an immigrant detention center. A scripted series based on the film is being adapted for the small screen by Blumhouse Television.

Antonio Banderas to Star in “Banshee”

Antonio Banderas has landed a spirited role…

The 61-year-old Spanish Oscar-nominated actor has joined the cast of Banshee, which will also star Jaime King and Tommy Flanagan.

Antonio Banderas

Hailing from director Jon Keeyes, the film follows a freelance assassin, codenamed Banshee (King), who is ambushed by Anthony Greene (Flanagan), a powerful mercenary who killed her father, and who is now seeking to collect a bounty on Caleb (Banderas), her former black ops mentor.

Caleb went underground five years prior, triggering a race against time as Banshee must find and protect Caleb before Greene and his army of hired killers can find him and take him down.

Banshee is a complex story of revenge and family, and having this incredibly talented cast to bring these characters to life is a dream,” Keeyes said.

“Banshee” is produced by Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Productions, alongside Keeyes of Highland Myst, from a script by Matthew Rogers, who wrote the trio’s previous movie, The Survivalist.

Shaun Sanghani also serves as a producer on the film.

“We’re excited to have such as amazing cast for this wall-to-wall action movie,” said Yale Levine and Beckerman. “Antonio Banderas is a legend and having him alongside Jaime King and Tommy Flanagan in such a high-energy film is going to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.”

Banderas recently earned an Oscar nomination for his work in Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory and also recently starred in The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. Other credits include The Mask of Zorro, Desperado and Evita.

Banderas will next be seen starring in the upcoming Indiana Jones film, Uncharted, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Diego Luna to Receive 2021 Platino Award of Honor

Diego Luna is being celebrated for his platinum career.

This year’s seventh edition of the Ibero-American Platino Awards (Premios Platinos) will honor the 41-year-old Mexican actor, director, producer and festival organizer with the Platino Award of Honor.

Diego Luna

An itinerant award show by design, this year’s Platinos will be held on October 3 in Madrid.

Luna will be the youngest recipient of the career achievement honor, joining previous winners Miguel Rafael Martos Sánchez, often simply referred to as Raphael, one of Spain’s most iconic entertainers of the 20th century; Adriana Barraza, the Oscar nominated Spanish-English-language crossover star of Alejandro Iñárritu’s Babel and Amores Perros; Oscar and three time Primetime Emmy nominee Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver); Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory); and Primetime Emmy (The Burning Season) and BAFTA (“Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos) nominee Sonia Braga.

A child actor who excelled from an early age, Luna’s first film appearance was in Javier Bourges’ 1991 Mexican Academy Award-nominated short The Last New Year.” He appeared in several telenovelas throughout the ‘90s, joined on screen for the first time by his longtime collaborator and close friend Gael García Bernal in El abuelo y yo in 1992. Alternating between film and television over the next decade, his international breakout came with García Bernal and Spain’s Marbel Verdú in Alfonso Cuarón’s seminal coming-of-age road trip film “Y Tu Mamá También.”

Shortly after, Luna began his Hollywood career appearing alongside Bon Jovi in John Carpenter’s Vampires: Los Muertos and in Salma Hayek’s Oscar-winning biopic Frida.

In the decades since, Luna has continued to work on both Latin American and U.S. productions while also taking turns as a producer, writer and director. He also, again with García Bernal, launched the nomadic documentary film festival Ambulante, as well as their own production label, first Canana in 2005 and now La Corriente del Golfo.

Most recently, he created and hosts the Amazon Original conversation series Pan y Circo and is starring in the Disney+’s Andor, a spinoff series following his Rogue One: A Star Wars Story character Cassian Andor.

He was also recently confirmed as a voice actor for Netflix’s upcoming animated series Maya and the Three, where he will team with frequent collaborator Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life).

Last year’s ceremony was, like so many, forced online by the COVID-19 pandemic. But this time around, the Platinos are planning an in-person event to celebrate the best offerings from the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American screen industries.

At 11 nominations each, the two standout titles are Fernando Trueba’s Colombian drama Memories of My Father and Jayro Bustamante’s Guatemalan thriller La Llorona.

The Platino Awards are promoted by EGEDA (Spain’s Entity for the Rights Management of Audiovisual Producers) and FIPCA (the Ibero-American Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers) and have the support of the Ibero-American film academies and institutes as well as numerous sponsors in Europe and Latin America.