Michael Cuesta to Direct Pilot Episode of Marvel Studios’ “Daredevil: Born Again”

Michael Cuesta is born again

The 59-year-old Latino director, who helmed the pilots for shows like Dexter and Homeland, will direct the first episode of Marvel Studios’ Daredevil: Born Again.

Michael CuestaProduction on the 18-episode Disney+ series begins this month in New York and marks the true integration of characters that began life on Netflix, when the streamer had a slate of Marvel series in the mid-2010s, into the popular and dominant Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Charlie Cox, who starred as Matt Murdoch, aka Daredevil, the man without fear, is reprising his role for the series after making brief and teasing cameos in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Vincent D’Onofrio is back as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime — his first appearance in the MCU was a cameo in Hawkeye — and Jon Bernthal is returning as the hard-edged vigilante known as the Punisher.

Other actors on the call sheet include Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva and Sandrine Holt, the latter of whom is playing Vanessa Fisk, the wife of Fisk. Michael Gaston (Chicago P.D., Mayor of Kingstown) is also in the series.

Born Again takes its title from a landmark Daredevil storyline published in 1986, written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzuchelli. The show is deviating from that plot, although by how much is unclear. The Punisher, for example, made no appearance in the comic story. Daredevil versus Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, remains the focal point.

Writers and executive producers Matt Corman and Chris Ord are behind the show, which is expected to bow in the spring of 2024. Cuesta is only directing the opening episode, according to sources. Other directors are being lined up to helm blocks of episodes.

Cuesta is one of the top helmers in the pilot game. In addition to directing the pilots for Dexter and Homeland, both acclaimed gritty dramas and for which he earned an Emmy nomination on the latter, he also directed the pilots for police show Blue Blood and procedural Sherlock Holmes mystery show Elementary.

Directing a pilot is an important task as it normally sets the casting, tone, and look of a series and is seen as a test for a show’s promise as well as a chance to put its best foot forward. And while in the streaming age many shows tend to be given straight-up series orders, helming the first episode remains equally as important.

Other recent series work for Cuesta includes episodes of Dopesick and Billions, and he also directed the action thriller American Assassin, which starred Dylan O’Brien and Michael Keaton.

Gael García Bernal & Diego Luna to Star in Hulu’s Spanish-Language Boxing Series “La Máquina”

Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna are ringing in a new project…

The 43-year-old Mexican actor and producer and the 42-year-old Mexican actor, singer, director, and producer will star in La Máquina, a Spanish-language boxing series for Hulu.

Gael García Bernal & Diego LunaBernal and Luna, who first worked together on Y Tu Mamá También, will star and produce the series for the streamer.

La Máquina is produced by Searchlight Television, the Disney-owned television arm of Searchlight Pictures and marks its third series for the streamer following The Dropout and History of the World, Part II.

Daredevils Marco Ramirez will serve as showrunner and Gabriel Ripstein will direct.

García Bernal and Luna will produce under their La Corriente del Golfo banner along with Gerardo Gatica, Leandro Halperin and Adam Fishbach.

La Máquina follows an aging boxer, played by García Bernal, whose crafty manager, played by Luna, secures him one last shot at a title.  But to make it to fight night, they must navigate a mysterious underworld force.

“We are proud to partner again with Searchlight Television on this forthcoming Hulu Original. Gael, Diego and Marco are world class storytellers and we look forward to bringing audiences their story and experiencing alongside them this last shot their characters get together,” said Craig Erwich, President, Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment.

“It is a real honor to unite Gael and Diego onscreen again for La Máquina, their friendship and chemistry is a joy to experience,” added Searchlight Presidents Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum. “And we’re delighted to be working with Marco, whose unique voice and vision allows us to explore this world in a wholly original way.”

García Bernal recently starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s Old and HBO Max’s Station Eleven, while Luna was one of the voices in animated film DC League of Super Pets alongside Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart and stars in the upcoming Disney+ Star Wars series Andor.

 

Rosario Dawson to Star in “Zombieland 2”

Rosario Dawson will seeing, and fighting, dead people…

The 39-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban-American actress is set to join Zombieland 2, the next installment of the Sony Pictures post-apocalyptic zombie comedy that will feature original stars Woody HarrelsonJesse EisenbergEmma Stone and Abigail Breslin.

Rosario Dawson

Ruben Fleischer returns to direct the sequel fresh off of the blockbuster success of Venom.

Written by original Zombieland scribes Paul Wernickand Rhett Reese, the sequel centers on the comic mayhem that stretches from the White Houseand through the heartland. The zombie slayers must face off against the many new kinds of zombies that have evolved since the first movie, as well as some new human survivors. Most of all, they have to face the growing pains of their own snarky, makeshift family.

Dawson joins franchise newcomers Zoey Deutchand Avan Jogiawith filming slated to begin this week. 

Zombieland 2 hits theaters on October 11.

Dawson can be seen as Claire Temple in five of the Netflix Marvel series: Jessica JonesLuke CageDaredevilThe Defenders and Iron Fist

Up next, she toplines the USA Networkcrime anthology series Briarpatch.

Rosario Dawson to Star in USA Network’s Pilot “Briarpatch”

Rosario Dawson has a new (briar)patch of work…

The 39-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actress is set as the lead of USA Network’s hourlong pilot Briarpatch, fromUniversal Cable Productions, Paramount Television, Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail’s Esmail Corp and Anonymous Content.

Rosario Dawson

Written by Andy Greenwald and based on the Ross Thomas novel, Briarpatch centers on Allegra “Pick” Dill (Dawson), a tenacious and highly-skilled investigator working in Washington, DC for a young, ambitious senator. When her ten-years-younger sister, a homicide detective, is killed by a car bomb, Allegra returns to her corrupt Texas hometown. What begins as a search for the murderer becomes a fraught and dangerous excavation of the past Allegra has long sought to bury.

Dawson will also serve as producer on the project, described as celebrating the book’s blend of crime, thriller, mystery, and pulp fiction while updating Thomas’ sense of fun, danger and place for a new generation.

Dawson was recently seen in the film Krystal. On television, she has played Claire Temple on Netflix’s Marvel series Daredevil, Luke Cage Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and The Defenders and also has been recurring on the CW’s Jane the Virgin.

Braga to Star Opposite Rosario Dawson on Marvel’s “Luke Cage” Series for Netflix

Sonia Braga is ready to Marvel

The 65-year-old Brazilian actress and three-time Golden Globe nominee has joined the cast of Marvel’s Luke Cage, the third series in the comic book publisher’s four-series package for Netflix.

Sonia Braga

Braga, best known for her roles in Kiss of the Spider Woman and Moon Over Parador, will portray Soledad Temple, mother of the Rosario Dawson-portrayed Claire Temple – whom we’ve previously met in Marvel’s Daredevil and briefly in Marvel’s Jessica Jones.

Set to debut with a 13-episode first season on the streaming service in 2016, Luke Cage has American Horror Story: Coven alum Mike Colter playing the ex-con with super strength who tries to get his life back on track and becomes a hero for hire to pay the bills in contemporary New York City.

Fans of the long established Marvel character, who first appeared back in 1972, Colter’s Cage also is a featured player and love interest in Jessica Jones, which debuted November 20 on Netflix.

Ray Donovan‘s Cheo Hodari Coker is Luke Cage’s showrunner and will write the series’ first 2-episodes. Marvel’s Luke Cage is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix.

Netflix Releases Full-Trailer for Dawson’s Marvel Series “Daredevil”

Dare to spot Rosario Dawson in Netflix’s trailer for Daredevil

Netflix has released a full-size trailer for its upcoming television series Daredevil, starring the 35-year-old Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban American actress.

Rosario Dawson

Dawson portrays Claire Jones in the series, which is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Dawson’s character is a nurse who works at night and helps Daredevil.

Boardwalk Empire’s Charlie Cox portrays Matt Murdock/Daredevil, a lawyer-by-day who fights crime at night. Daredevil was portrayed on the big screen by Ben Affleck. In the series, Vincent D’Onofrio portrays Cox’s nemesis The Kingpin.

It’s the first in a four-series superhero package from Marvel that will lead up to a Defenders crossover miniseries

All episodes are set to premiere on April 10, 2015.

Rivera to Help Launch Four-Part Comic Book Series Titled “The Valiant”

Paolo Rivera is taking on a valiant project…

The Eisner Award-winning Hispanic American comic book artist has partnered with Matt Kindt and Jeff Lemire to launch a newly-announced four-part series titled The Valiant in December. 

Paolo Rivera

From publisher Valiant Entertainment, the new project will bring together characters from multiple Valiant series to confront what the publisher describes as “a monstrous force of nature [and] civilization killer.”

“It’s a huge thrill for me to now step into the Valiant Universe in a big way with the upcoming four-issue series,” Lemire said in a statement accompanying the announcement of the series. The Valiant, he said, would “not only serve as a great entry point for brand new readers to Valiant, but also enrich the existing universe and shake it up dramatically moving forward.”

“One of the major things that brought me to this project was the epic scale,” added Rivera, best known for his work on Marvel’s Daredevil. “Most of the stories I’ve worked on, even when action-packed, have been on the level of individuals. While our main characters are still the heart, this story spans epochs and realms, with consequences that, quite literally, affect the entire Earth.”

The series has been compared to DC’s Kingdom Come in terms of prestige, suggesting that it’s being created as an essentially standalone work that could be used as a gateway into the larger Valiant line; while the relaunched Valiant line has been receiving many critical plaudits since its 2012 debut, it has maintained a tight continuity across the entire line that could possibly make it seem less inviting to new readers.

The Valiant will be available in comic book stores and digitally this December.