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

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

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.

Production 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.

Antonio Campos to Serve as Showrunner/Executive Producer & Director of HBO Max’s “The Batman” Prequel Series

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Campos is the (bat)man for the job…

The 50-year-old Spanish filmmaker will serve as the showrunner-executive producer of HBO Max’s The Batman prequel series.

Campos will also direct the series, which is about Arkham Asylum.

Initially, the series, executive produced by The Batman director Matt Reeves, was to center on the inner workings of the Gotham Police Department. Barton exited when the focus shifted to the Arkham Asylum storyline.

Terence Winter was initially involved in the first The Batman series, when it was initially announced in July 2020 with a series commitment. Then came Giri/Haji creator Joe Barton, who replaced Winter.

Campos will now run the series with a new direction.

The Batman series comes from Reeves’ 6th & Idaho in association with Warner Bros. Television. Reeves, Barton and The Batman producer Dylan Clark are executive producers, alongside 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski and Adam Kassan. 6th & Idaho’s Rafi Crohn is a co-executive producer. It is based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.

Campos most recently created, wrote, executive produced and directed HBO Max’s true-crime series The Staircase. He also directed several episodes and executive produced The Sinner, and served as director on The Punisher.

Benjamin Flores Jr. Upped to Series Regular on Showtime’s “Your Honor”

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

There’s more honor in Benjamin Flores Jr.’s future…

The 20-year-old Afro-Latino actor and rapper, whose stage name is Lil’ P-Nut, has been promoted to series regular for the upcoming second and finals season of Showtime’s “Your Honor.”

Flores was a recurring character during the series’ first season .

Bryan Cranston stars in the series as Michael Desiato, a respected New Orleans judge whose teenage son is involved in a hit-and-run that leads to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.

As the only surviving son of Jimmy Baxter (Michael Stuhlbarg), Stanton’s Carlo Baxter is now more determined than ever to follow in his father’s criminal footsteps. Stanton appeared in eight episodes in the first season.

Stanton plays Carlo Baxter. As the only surviving son of Jimmy Baxter (SAG Award winner Michael Stuhlbarg), Carlo is now more determined than ever to follow in his father’s criminal footsteps.

Stanton’s TV credits include Castle Rock and The Punisher, with such film appearances as Greyhound, Lost Girls and Detroit.

Flores’ Eugene Jones’ attempt to avenge his brother’s death has created a new chain of events that threaten to create a war on the streets of New Orleans. Flores appeared in nine episodes in Season 1.

Currently in production, Your Honor is produced by CBS Studios in association with KingSize Productions, with Peter Moffat, Robert and Michelle King and Liz Glotzer executive producing.

Season 1, which was based on the Israeli series Kvodo created by Ron Ninio and Shlomo Mashiach, became the most-watched debut season on Showtime ever with 6.6 million weekly viewers.

Flores starred in Fear Street, Rim of the World, Transformers: The Last Knight, Game Shakers and The Haunted Hathaways, for which he earned the Imagen Award for Best Young Actor-Television.

Floriana Lima to Star in NBC’s Drama Pilot “Blank Slate”

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Floriana Lima is going blank…

The 41-year-old part-Spanish American actress has been cast as one of the leads in NBC’s Blank Slate, a drama pilot from Dean Georgaris, John Fox, Davis Entertainment and Universal Television.

The series is created by Georgaris and Fox, written by Georgaris and will be directed by Richard Shepard.

Blank Slate draws some parallels to Davis Entertainment’s long-running NBC series The Blacklist.

In Blank Slate, Special Agent Alexander McCoy is a legend in law enforcement, the agent we all hope is out there, the agent we’d all like to be. The only issue is — he doesn’t actually exist. He’s a ghost, a phantom. So what happens when a man claiming to be Alexander McCoy walks through the door with all of his skills and knowledge but with an agenda nobody will see coming?

Lima plays Maya Logan, the seasoned head of a team of Homeland Security agents who’s always a step ahead of everyone else.

Georgaris executive produces via his Georgaris Inc. banner; John Davis and John Fox executive produce for Davis Entertainment. Shepard also executive produces. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.

Lima recently starred in the third season of ABC’s drama A Million Little Things.

She previously was seen in the second season of Netflix and Marvel’s The Punisher, opposite Jon Bernthal.

She joined the CW’s Supergirl in the second season, starring as special crimes investigator Maggie Sawyer, one of the first openly gay characters in mainstream comics.

Aristides Aquino Becomes First MLB Player to Hit Eight Home Runs in First 12 Career Games

Posted on August 13, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Aristides Aquino has etched his name in the annals of Major League Baseball history…

The 25-year-old Dominican professional baseball player, a rookie outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds, went deep against the Washington Nationals on Monday night, making him the first player in MLB history to hit eight home runs in his first 12 career games.

Aquino’s latest blast came on a mammoth solo shot against Nats reliever Tanner Rainey. With two outs in the top of the eighth inning of Cincy’s 7-6 loss, Aquino crushed a 98 mph fastball from Rainey and drilled it over the fence in right-center field, 425 feet away.

Nicknamed “The Punisher” by his brother when he was growing up, Aquino — who appeared in one game last season — has been pulverizing baseballs since getting called up on Aug. 1.

In 11 games since his promotion, the 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound slugger is hitting .429 with eight home runs and 16 RBIs. All eight of his homers have come in the Reds’ past nine games, and he’s gone yard seven times in his past six contests, a torrid streak that helped earn him National League Player of the Week honors earlier on Monday.

It’s a heady start for a player who was non-tendered this past offseason, and who wasn’t considered a highly regarded prospect heading into the 2019 campaign.

“I think it’s the timing,” Aquino said through an interpreter. “It’s the perfect timing, and God has a plan. I just want to go out there and do the best that I can do.”

So far, Aquino’s best has been better than anything his teammates have witnessed.

“A lot of us say we’ve never seen anything like it, and that would explain it,” Reds manager David Bell said. “It’s never happened before. We’ve been talking about him now, and the great thing is, with the success, just the way he’s handling it, just his maturity level. He’s handled it with a lot of poise, and we believe in him. We believe that he’s going to keep going.”

Prior to getting called up, Aquino was hitting .299 with 28 homers and 53 RBIs in 78 games with Triple-A Louisville. Previously, four hitters shared the record of seven home runs in their first 12 career games. The most recent occurrence was in June of this year, when Houston Astros rookie Yordan Alvarez accomplished the feat.

Antonio Campos Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Campos has new representation…

The 34-year-old half-Brazilian writer-director-producer, whose credits include the Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard film Afterschool and the Sundance Film Festival films Simon Killer and Christine, has signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME).

Campos has been busy on the television side of late, directing and executive producing USA’s The Sinner starring Jessica Biel in addition to Netflix’s The Punisher, on which he directed an episode in Season 1 and is helming the first two episodes of Season 2.

As a producer, his credits include Martha Macy May Marlene, James White, The Eyes of My Mother and Piercing.

Upcoming, Campos has signed on to rewrite and direct the upcoming Fox Searchlight horror film Splitfoot, and is aboard to direct a prequel to The Omen for 20th Century Fox.

Campos, who had been at UTA, continues to be repped by manager Melissa Breaux at Management 360 and attorneys Peter Nelson and Joel Vanderkloot.

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