First Look at Penelope Cruz in the Italian Film “L’immensita”

Penelope Cruz is ready to showcase her Italian language skills…

The 47-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress, who recently earned an Academy Award nod for her Spanish language role in Parallel Mothers, will star in the Italian drama L’immensita, which is currently in post-production. A first look photo of Cruz in the film has been released.

Penelope Cruz, L’immensitaEmanuele Crialese’s film is set in 1970s Rome. The Borghetti family has just moved into one of the many freshly-built apartment blocks in the city. Despite the beautiful, sweeping views of the city from their top floor apartment, the family is not as close as they once were. Clara (Cruz, who speaks Italian) and Felice (Vincenzo Amato) are no longer in love, but are unable to leave each other. Clara finds refuge from her loneliness in the shelter of her special relationships with her three children. The oldest, Adriana, an unknown child in their new neighborhood, deliberately presents as a boy to the neighborhood children, pushing the family’s bond towards breaking point.

The film is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Fremantle’s Wildside with Dimitri Rassam for Chapter 2.

Warner Bros Italia is also co-producing and will distribute the film in Italy.

France 3 Cinéma and Pathé are also co-producing in France, and Pathé will release the film in France and Switzerland.

Writers are Crialese, Francesca Manieri and Vittorio Moroni

Cruz last week scored a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role in Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers. It was the Spanish actress’s fourth Academy Award nomination.

Zayas to Star in the Mob Thriller “The Wannabe”

David Zayas is officially a wannabe

The 51-year-old Puerto Rican actor, best known for his role as Angel Batista on Showtime’s Dexter, has joined the cast of the mob thriller The Wannabe.

David Zayas

Zayas joins Golden Door’s Vincenzo Amato, Moonrise Kingdom’s Neal Huff, GoodfellasMike Starr and The Town’s Slaine as the final additions to the film’s cast.

The Wannabe, which will begin shooting on October 28 in Brooklyn, stars Patricia Arquette, Vincent Piazza and Michael Imperioli and will be directed by Nick Sandow, who also wrote the script.

Martin Scorsese and Dean Devlin are executive producing the film, which is set in New York City in the early ’90s and follows a man obsessed with mob culture (Piazza) who attempts to fix the jury in the trial of John Gotti. But his plans are foiled, so he sets off with Rose (Arquette), a neighborhood fixture, on a ride worthy of mob lore.

Zayas, who portrayed Enrique Morales on the HBO prison drama series Oz, recently signed on to Sony‘s new Annie film.