Millan to Host Endangered Animal-Themed Series “The Messenger”

Cesar Millan’s career is endangered

The 47-year-old Self-taught dog behaviorist and Dog Whisperer will host The Messenger, a six-part series with a focus on conservationists who work to save the world’s most critically endangered animals.

Cesar Millan

The Messenger will feature Millan as he ventures to various spectacular natural habitats, turning a spotlight on the triumphs and struggles of conservationists and the critically endangered animals they risk their lives to rescue and rehabilitate.

Millan calls the series “a natural extension of the work I have been doing with dogs… Animals have rights too and we need to respect their natural place in our world.”

Wildlife specialists Boréales and AB Productions produced the original French format and are teaming on the English-language version.

Millan will executive produce.

The original, titled Le Messager, premiered to good ratings on France 3 and Belgium’s AB3 in January this year.

 

Diaz Cast in HBO’s Drama Series Project “Laughs Unlimited”

Melonie Diaz has plenty of reason to laugh

The 29-year-old Puerto Rican actress, who earned critical acclaim for Spirit Award-nominated her performance in Fruitvale Station, has landed the lead in HBO‘s Laughs Unlimited (working title).

Melonie Diaz

The drama series, which centers on a war vet’s struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder, has been in the works at HBO for several months.

While it hasn’t been picked up to pilot yet, the network is doing preliminary casting and working on the budget as it does on most scripts it is high on before making a formal pilot order.

Laughs Unlimited hails from Oren Moverman, who has directed Rampart and The Messenger, and Anthony Swofford, best known for writing the book Jarhead.

It centers on Army Reserve medic Billie Crown (Diaz) who, after fifteen months as a combat medic in Afghanistan, discovers that “real life” is just as perilous as war. Duty as a Sacramento cop offers the same dangers and thrills as combat, and repairing relationships with her husband and young daughter is as difficult as saving a comrade after an IED attack. Moverman and Swofford wrote the script

Diaz recently wrapped production on The Cobbler.