Raúl Castillo to Star in Paramount‘s “Smile” Sequel

Raúl Castillo has a new reason to smile

The 46-year-old Mexican American actor has been cast in Paramount‘s Smile sequel.

Raul CastilloCastillo is among a list of new cast additions that includes Miles Gutierrez-Riley, who starred in The Wilds.

The film’s plot and character details are being kept under wraps.

The duo joins the previously announced cast: Naomi Scott, Lukas Gage, Kyle Gallner, Rosemarie DeWitt and Dylan Gelula.

Smile writer and director returns for the second installment to again direct from his own script, with Temple Hill producing.

Smile 2 is currently slated for release on October 18, 2024, when it will go up against a still-unnamed title from Universal Pictures.

Going on to gross over $217M in theaters, even if it was initially set up for release on Paramount+, Smile was one of the great, unexpected box office successes of 2022. One of several original studio horror films of late to expand into a franchise, it tells the story of Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), a psychiatrist who becomes increasingly convinced she is being threatened by an uncanny entity, after witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient.

Castillo most recently starred in the Amazon film Cassandro opposite Gael Garia Bernal. He’s set to appear in HBO‘s Mark Ruffalo-led series, the Untitled Brad Ingelsby Task Force Project (w/t), currently in pre-production.

Prior television credits also include HBO’s Looking, Starz’s Vida and Netflix’s Atypical to name a few; Army of the DeadCha Cha Real SmoothKnives Out and We The Animals are among his film credits.

Gutierrez-Riley made his TV debut in the second season of Prime Video’s The Wilds, where he portrayed Ivan. In September 2022, Miles he starred in Paramount’s film adaptation of On The Come Up, which made its world premiere on the opening night of TIFF. Next up, he will star opposite Corey Fogelman in Tommy Dorfman’s directorial debut I Wish You All the Best, premiering at SXSW in March. It has also been announced that Gutierrez-Riley will star in Disney+’s WandaVision spinoff, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries.

Zack Calderon to Star on Season 2 of Amazon’s YA Drama “The Wilds”

Zack Calderon is heading into the Wild(s)…

The Latino actor has joined the cast for Season 2 of Amazon’s YA drama The Wilds.

Zack Calderon

In addition to Calderon, those set to appear in the sophomore season are Aidan LapreteNicholas Coombe, Charles Alexander, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Reed Shannon, Tanner Ray Rook and Alex Fitzalan.

They will join returning cast Rachel Griffiths, David Sullivan, Troy Winbush, Sophia Ali, Sarah Pidgeon, Jenna Clause, Erana James, Mia Healey, Helena Howard, Reign Edwards and Shannon Berry.

The Wilds in Season 2 will continue to follow the harrowing ordeal of eight teenage girls stranded on a deserted island under mysterious circumstances. The new season will also focus on a new group of survivors, all boys, who find themselves in the same perilous situation. Both groups will be forced to navigate emotional and physical obstacles in the face of their extreme circumstances.

The Wilds is created and executive produced by Sarah Streicher. It is co-produced by Amazon Studios and ABC Signature, part of Disney Television Studios.

Calderon will play Rafael Garcia, a quiet, sensitive teenager who lives in Tijuana but attends high school in San Diego. Straddling two worlds has made it difficult to get a clear and certain sense of himself, so he gravitates toward people with stronger, more charismatic personalities than his own.

Calderon has appeared in CBS’ FBI.

Gutierrez-Riley will play Ivan Taylor, an activist and aspiring playwright with an impeccable fashion sense and a razor-sharp wit. But his words can be cutting, sometimes too deeply, which has cost him friends along the way.

The actor will appear in Leah Bleich’s The Moon and BackThe Wilds marks his television debut.

https://twitter.com/PrimeVideo/status/1389287119554678785

Mimi Davila to Star Opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in the Comedy Pilot “Hot Pink”

Things are rosy for Mimi Davila.

The 31-year-old Cuban-Bulgarian actress, comedian and writer will star in opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in Hot Pink, a biting coming-of-age comedy pilot for Amazon created by Elisabeth Holm.

Mimi Davila

Davila joins a roster of cast newcomers that includes Nina Bloomgarden, David Iacono, Dana Donnelly and Myra Molloy.

Character details are being kept under wraps.

Hot Pink, from Amazon Studios in association with Annapurna Pictures, was loosely inspired by Elana K. Arnold’s National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of.

If ordered to series, Hot Pink would join Amazon Studios’ growing YA series slate, which includes The Wilds, already renewed for a second season, and the upcoming Panic.

Published in 2017, Arnold’s What Girls Are Made Of is described as exploring “the real, knotted, messy, thriving heartbeat of young womanhood” through the eyes of a 16-year-old girl.

Davila is best known for creating the comedic web series The Chonga Diaries and viral song parody “Chongalicious,” which she created as one half of the duo The Chonga Girls.

As an actress she played a supporting role in the feature film Embattled and recurred on Adam Ruins Everything and South Beach.

She’s currently in development on 2Nite with the Chonga Girls, an innovative talk show.