Guerra to Direct Film Adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s Award-Winning Book “Waiting For The Barbarians”

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Ciro Guerra isn’t Waiting for his Hollywood crossover…

The 35-year-old Colombian film director and screenwriter is partnering with actor Mark Rylance and producer Michael Fitzgerald to adapt J.M. Coetzee’s award-winning book Waiting For The Barbarians for the big screen.

Coetzee, a Nobel Prize winner for literature, adapted the novel, which the Nobel Prize committee called “a political thriller in the tradition of Joseph Conrad, in which the idealist’s naiveté opens the gates to horror.”

Waiting For The Barbarians, which first was published in 1980 and quickly amassed honors, follows a magistrate (to be played by the Oscar-winning Rylance) of a far-flung border outpost as the reckless behavior of the “Empire” he serves threatens to trigger a Barbarian invasion. He begins to question imperialism when he saves a young ‘barbarian’ (one of the indigenous people in the country) and realizes that all is not what it appears to be. After mounting a harrowing escape, he is arrested by his own people and thrown in jail only to escape and eventually become an inspiration and leader to others.

The book, which is considered Coetzee’s master work, won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for fiction. It has been brought to the stage before (Phillip Glass composed a two-act opera for it) but never to the big screen. Coetzee, who is South African but lives in Australia, is one of the most respected authors of this century.

Fitzgerald is the one who pulled the prestigious project together with Rylance and Guerra.

Guerra is currently in pre-production on Birds of Passage which is in pre-production to shoot in the deserts of Colombia in January. The film is the follow-up to his award-winning film Embrace of the Serpent.

Apollonia Appears as Surprise Guest at AMPAS’ “Purple Rain: Celebration”

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Apollonia has come out of mouring…

The 57-year-old Mexican American actress, singer, former model and talent manager made her first public appearance since the passing of Prince on Monday night at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The occasion? Purple Rain: Celebration, a panel discussion/screening presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The evening’s surprise guest was joined by fellow cast members Jerome Benton and Jill Jones as well as the film’s writer/director Albert Magnoli, producer Robert Cavallo and costume designer Marie France.

Clips from the 57th Academy Awards — when Prince won the Oscar for original song score for Purple Rain — opened the evening.

Then noting that “not just a memory was being celebrated but also a milestone,” AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced that the brand new 35mm optical stereo print being shown would be added to the Academy’s permanent collection. Also setting the tone: an array of brilliant portraits of Prince displayed in the outer lobby, taken over the years by his personal photographer Afshin Shahidi.

Writer/director Reginald Hudlin, who produced the 88th Academy Awards this year, and Grammy-winning composer/bass guitarist Marcus Miller, moderated the ensuing 90-minute conversation.

Swapping stories about everything from the film’s early beginnings to the 90 still unreleased songs out of the 100 Prince had for the soundtrack to the absurd suggestion that John Travolta portray Prince, the panelists drew plenty of ooh’s and raucous laughter:

“I was the last person they saw for the audition [to find the Vanity replacement]. [Actress] Nia Peeples had just walked out of the room. I walked in and they asked me to take my shoes off. I thought wow, they’re into feet. Later I learned they were flying me to Minneapolis to meet Prince, who takes me out for a ride in a purple limo. He was very reserved and shy. I’m like Chatty Cathy. The next day we do an audition at First Avenue. I wore black spandex and a metal mesh blouse. Later there’s a knock at my hotel door and it’s Chick [Charles ‘Big Chick’ Huntsberry] from his security team: “The kid likes you. Play it cool,” said Apollonia.

“Prince called me and sang several pieces of [‘When Doves Cry’] into my answering machine and said not to erase it. When he came to my apartment, he headed straight to my machine. I still have that tape,” she added.

Guerra’s “Embrace of the Serpent” Sweeps Platino Ibero-American Film Awards

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Ciro Guerra continues to slither his way to the awards stage…

The 35-year-old film director and screenwriter’s critically acclaimed Embrace of the Serpent, which earned an Academy Award nomination, swept the 3rd Platino Ibero-American Film Awards on Sunday night in Uruguay, taking home seven of the eight categories for which it was nominated.

Although the awards had no clear favorite, Embrace of the Serpent, with Ixcanul, had scored the most nominations and its plaudit sweep did not seem to surprise many.

Shot in widescreen in 35 mm and in black and white Serpent claimed best picture, director, editing (Etienne Boussac, Cristina Gallego), art direction (Angélica Perea), original music (Nascuy Linares), cinematography (the film was shot by David Gallego) and sound (Carlos García, Marco Salavarría).

The story of Karamakate, a shaman who is the last survivor of his tribe and asked, 30 years apart, by two explorers – based on the figures of Theodor Koch-Gruenberg and Richard Evans Schultes – to help them discover the yakuna plant, Embrace of the Serpent charts the devastation of the Amazon by colonial powers, whether Colombian rubber companies or a crazed Spanish priest, but more particularly the loss of indigenous knowledge as whole peoples disappeared under the influx of invasion.

“The ravages of colonialism cast a dark pall over the stunning South American landscape in Embrace of the Serpent, he latest visual astonishment from the gifted Colombian writer-director Ciro Guerra,” Variety wrote in its Cannes Film Festival review.

Ciro Guerre’s third movie has won a string of significant festival, Academy and pan Latin American awards, including a Mexican Silver Ariel, Fénix Film Awards, and plaudits at the Mar del Plata and Palm Springs fests, among others.

Platino acting awards went to two Argentine talents who most certainly deserve wider recognition, Dolores Fonzi, star of Santiago Mitre’s Cannes Critics’ Week winner Paulina, who plays a young lawyer who refuses to compromise her principles when raped while working as a rural teacher, and Guillermo Francella, who portrays a real-life family patriarch and psychopath in Pablo Trapero’s The Clan, who continues for personal profit Argentina’s Dirty War practice of kidnapping and murder after the fall of Argentina’s military junta.

A third Argentine actor, Ricardo Darin, took the Platino Lifetime Achievement Award.

“We have the talent. We just need to have confidence in ourselves,” Darin said on stage, receiving the plaudit. ”That’s why we and Ibero-America need these awards,” he added.

A searing but crafted indictment of the tribulations of a young pregnant and unmarried girl in rural Guatemala, Berlin Silver Bear winner Ixcanul, the feature debut of Jayro Bustamante, once more confirmed its audience appeal, at least with the who have seen it, taking the Platinos’ Audience Award, plus best first feature.

BEST PICTURE
“Embrace of the Serpent,” (Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela)

BEST DIRECTOR
Ciro Guerra (“Embrace of the Serpent”)

BEST ACTOR
Guillermo Francella (“The Clan,” Argentina, Spain)

BEST ACTRESS
Dolores Fonzi (“Paulina,” Argentina)

ORIGINAL MUSIC
Nascuy Linares (“Embrace of the Serpent”)

BEST ANIMATION MOVIE
“Capture the Flag,” (Enrique Gato, Spain)

BEST DOCU FEATURE
“The Pearl Button,” (Patricio Guzmán, Chile, Spain)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Pablo Larraín, Guillermo Calderón, Daniel Villalobos (“The Club”)

FIRST FEATURE
“Ixcanul” (Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala, France)

EDITING
Etienne Boussac, Cristina Gallego (“Embrace of the Serpent”)

ART DIRECTION
Angélica Perea (“Embrace of the Serpent”)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
David Gallego (“Embrace of the Serpent”)

SOUND
Carlos García, Marco Salavarría (“Embrace of the Serpent”)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Ricardo Darín

PLATINO AWARD FOR FILM AND EDUCATION IN VALUES
“The Second Mother,” (Anna Muylaert, Brazil)

AUDIENCE AWARDS

FEATURE
“Ixcanul,” (Guatemala, France)

ACTRESS
Penélope Cruz (“Ma ma,” Spain)

ACTOR
Ricardo Darín (“Truman,” Spain, Argentina)

Warner Bros. Developing Animated Speedy Gonzales Film with Eugenio Derbez Voicing the Iconic Character

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Eugenio Derbez has the need for Speed(y)…

Warner Bros. is looking to bring Speedy Gonzalez, the beloved Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies mouse, as an animated feature with the 54-year-old Mexican actor/director voicing the iconic character.

“In Mexico we grew up watching Speedy Gonzales,” Derbez told Deadline about “the Fastest Mouse in all Mexico.” “He was like a superhero to us, or maybe more like a revolutionario like Simon Bolivar or Pancho Villa. He watched out for the little people but with a lot of bravado and a weakness for the ladies. I’m really excited to be bringing this character to the big screen. And besides being Mexican— my full name is Eugenio Derbez Gonzalez and I have big ears. The casting couldn’t be better.”

Speedy Gonzales started out as a character in another cartoon before animators Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt introduced him in an animated short of his own in 1955. Then, the legendary Mel Blanc voiced the mouse. That short, which also featured Looney Tunes’ Sylvester the Cat, ended up winning the Academy Award for best short subject.

The in-development project, which is tentatively entitled Speedy, will be produced by Dylan Sellers via Rivers Edge Films and Derbez and Ben Odell via their 3pas Studios.

Hank Nelken has been hired to script the story, which is described as a heist caper. The project will likely be cut into both English- and Spanish-speaking versions.

“We see this as an origin story of the great master, like a Robin Hood character, who ultimately ends up taking from the rich and giving to the poor,” said Sellers. “In a time when Donald Trump is gaining momentum, the world needs Speedy more than ever.”

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Derbez has voiced animation in the past, particularly notable was Donkey in the Spanish-language version of Shrek. By doing so, he added even more humor into film with local colloquialisms and humor, which was credited for helping box office attendance in Spanish-speaking countries.

Delgado Wins First-Ever Costume Designers Guild Award

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Paco Delgado is this year’s period king…

The Spanish costume designer picked up his first Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Period Film, which was handed out at the Beverly Hilton.

Delgado, who previously earned a CDG nomination in the same category for his work on Les Misérables, won the award for his work on The Danish Girl, starring Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe, the first person to undergo gender confirmation surgery, in 1930s Germany.

“When I start doing the research into a new subject or a new model, I always try to see as much material as possible. In this case, because they were artists, we wanted to recreate this sort of artistic mold into the clothes,” says Delgado of his work. “Yes, we definitely did base a lot of ideas—we didn’t copy things completely except the dress that Gerda is painting of a portrait of Ulla as a ballerina. It was the only dress we copied completely. The rest, we tried much more to get the feeling of the painting. What sort of feelings they had in sense of color, in terms of sensuality, in terms of what materials Gerda was depicting. And trying to get that translated into what they were wearing at the time. But I mean, much of the research was made around the designers of the period.”

Delgado is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the same film.

Here’s the complete list of tonight’s winners:

Excellence in Fantasy Film: Mad Max: Fury Road, Jenny Beavan
Excellence in Period Film: The Danish Girl, Paco Delgado
Excellence in Contemporary Film: Beasts of No Nation, Jenny Eagan
Excellence in Short Form Design: Most Interesting Man in the World Wins on Land, Sea & Air, Dos Equis Commercial, Julie Vogel
Outstanding Fantasy Television Series: Game of Thrones, Michele Clapton
Outstanding Period Television Series: The Knick, Ellen Mirojnick
Outstanding Contemporary Television Series: American Horror Story: Hotel, Lou Eyrich

Leto to Serve as a Presenter at This Year’s Academy Awards

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Jared Leto has a date with Oscar…

The 44-year-old part-Spanish actor/singer and Oscar-winner is the latest entertainer to be added to the list of presenters for the 88th Academy Awards this month.

He joins a roster that includes Steve Carell, Priyanka Chopra, Quincy Jones, Byung-hun Lee, Julianne Moore, Olivia Munn, Margot Robbie, Jason Segel, Andy Serkis, J.K. Simmons, Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.

Two years ago, Leto picked up the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his critically acclaimed performance as male-to-female transgender character Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club.

Rapace In Talks to Star in Amy Winehouse Biopic from Kirsten Sheridan

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Noomi Rapace nay be going Back to Black…

The 35-year-old half-Spanish actress is in talks to star in Kirsten Sheridan’s Amy Winehouse biopic.

Sheridan, an Academy Award nominee for In America, has penned the project and is attached to direct.

The project will follow Winehouse’s trajectory from budding North London jazz singer to Grammy-winning music superstar and style icon to her tragic battle with alcohol and drugs. She died in 2011 at age 27.

“Amy’s music is felt so deeply by the audience because it was deeply personal,” Sheridan said. “Her vulnerability was her strength. She was called many things — a diva, a lost soul preyed upon by tabloids, a tortured genius; our aim is an innovative, emotional and life-affirming approach as we go through the looking glass into her life and art.”

The producers are currently in talks with Winehouse’s father Mitch, who controls the late singer’s estate. He has distanced himself from Asif Kapadia’s smash feature-length docu Amy, which portrayed the former taxi driver in a less than favorable light.

Rapace achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the Millennium series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.

Her other credits include Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Prometheus and Child 44.

Jaenada to Star Opposite Blake Lively in “The Shallows”

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar Jaenada is heading to the shallows…

The 40-year-old Spanish actor has joined the cast of Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows opposite Blake Lively.

Jaenada, a Goya Award winner, is crossing over into the mainstream after bringing beloved Mexican comedic icon Cantinflas to the screen in the 2014 movie of the same name.

He has a small, but book-ended role in The Shallows.

Written by Anthony Jaswinski, the story centers on a young woman (Lively) who is grieving the loss her mother and surfing in an isolated area when she gets stranded on a buoy. Things take a turn for the worse when a gigantic great white shark comes between her and the shore.

The film was known as In The Deep when Sony Pictures won a bidding war for the spec script in September 2014, and brought Collet-Serra aboard in June.

Jaenada, who appears in The Weinstein Company’s 2016 offering Hands Of Stone opposite Robert De Niro, will play Carlos in the film, described as a workman who drives Lively’s character to the beach and then shows up again at the end of the film to check on her.

The film is casting now and has three other small supporting roles that are earmarked for Hispanic actors.

Jaenada won the coveted Goya (Spain’s equivalent of the Academy Award) for his portrayal of Camaron de la Isla, the legendary Spanish flamenco dancer, in 2005’s Camaron: When Flamenco Became Legend.

Cantinflas was Mexico’s 2015 foreign-language Oscar submission.

In addition, the actor had a starring role in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and a critically praised appearance in Steven Soderbergh’s Che.

Cuaron’s Spanish-Language Drama “Desierto” Lands at STX Entertainment

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like Jonás Cuarón latest film will make its way north of the U.S.-Mexico border…

The 34-year-old Mexican film director and screenwriter’s latest project Desierto has landed at STX Entertainment.

The Spanish-language film centers on a group of immigrants trying to cross the border from Mexico into the United States when they encounter a man who has taken up border patrol duties in his own racist hands.

Desierto, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, won the Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for Special Presentations at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Cuarón, the son of Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter Alfonso Cuarón, co-wrote his father’s Oscar-winning film Gravity.

STX Entertainment’s deal is for Desierto’s North American rights.

Montenegro Receives International Emmy Award Nomination

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Sweet Mother! Fernanda Montenegro is back in the running for an International Emmy.

The 85-year-old Brazilian stage, television and film actress has received a nomination for an International Emmy Award from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Montenegro, who was the first and only Brazilian actress to receive an Academy Award nomination for her acclaimed performance in Central Station, earned a nod in the Best Performance by an Actress category for her performance in Globo TV’s Doce de Mãe, which translates to “Sweet Mother.”

Montenegro previously won the best actress prize at the 2013 International Emmy Awards for her performance in Doce de Mãe.

Meanwhile, Montenegro’s compatriot Emilio de Mello has earned a nod in the Best Performance by an Actor category.

The Brazilian actor earned the nod for his performance in HBO Latin America’s series Psi.

French cop drama seris Engrenages is currently being

In all 40 nominees were announced in 10 categories spanning 10 countries: Angola, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.

The Awards will be presented at the annual International Emmys Gala on November 23 at the Hilton New York Hotel.

“Every year, the international television community competes to be recognized for excellence on the International Emmy’s global stage,” said Bruce L. Paisner, President & CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “We congratulate the 2015 Nominees for their outstanding programs and performances.”

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