Signature Entertainment Acquires Rights to Luis Guzman’s Mob Crime-Drama “The Birthday Cake” in UK-Ireland & Australia-New Zealand

Luis Guzmán will be having birthday cake on four islands…

Signature Entertainment has acquired the mob crime-drama The Birthday Cake, starring the 64-year-old Puerto Rican actor, for distribution in the United Kingdom-Ireland and Australia/New Zealand.

Luis Guzman

In addition to Guzman, the film also stars Ewan McGregor, Val Kilmer, William Fichtner, Emory Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Penn Badgley, Ashley Benson, Lorraine Bracco and Shiloh Fernandez.

Currently in post-production, the film comes from first-time feature director Jim Giannopoulos, whose past work includes music video collaborations with A$AP Rocky, Miley Cyrus and Kid Cudi.

The Birthday Cake follows Giovanni (Fernandez) who, on the 10th anniversary of his father’s death, reluctantly accepts the task of bringing a cake to the home of his uncle, a mob boss, for a celebration. Just two hours into the night, Gio’s life is forever changed after witnessing a murder and learning the truth about what happened to his late father.

Guzman’s previous credits include television roles on Shameless, Hightown and the film The Padre.

Fat Joe to Appear on the Upcoming “MDA Kevin Hart Kids Telethon”

Fat Joe’s got hart… And, he’s ready to share it with the world.

The 50-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American rapper, whose real name Joseph Antonio Cartagena, will take part in the MDA Kevin Hart Kids Telethon, the upcoming two-hour special hosted by Hart that reimagines the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s annual variety show fundraiser.

Fat-Joe

Fat Joe joins a lineup of talent additions that includes Don Cheadle, Common, Cindy Crawford, Whitney Cummings, Stephen Curry, Zachary Levi and Kelly Rowland.

The special, which will benefit the MDA and Help From the Hart Charity, streams live on Saturday from 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET on Hart’s LOL Network and its digital platforms YouTube and Pluto TV, as well as on TikTok, Triller and Twitch.

SiriusXM will air an encore of the show on its Laugh Out Loud Radio channel on October 26 at 4:00 pm ET and again the next day at 10:00 am ET.

The telethon will feature entertainment, comedy, musical performances and MDA’s Let’s Play For a Cure gaming elements, a gaming stream hosted by Zedd running simultaneously. A Telethon Showcase to celebrate the members of the neuromuscular community and hosted by Nancy O’Dell and Jann Carl will follow the two-hour main show. It will stream on the MDA’s Facebook page.

As a warmup, an MDA-hosted online auction on CharityBuzz featuring items from Serena Williams, Curry and others launches Friday at mda.org/telethon.

The latest talent additions to the lineup join previously announced guests including Garcelle Beauvais, Aloe Blacc, Jack Black, Usain Bolt, Bryan Cranston, Adam Devine, Josh Gad, Liz Gillies, Aldis Hodge, Edwin Hodge, Michael B. Jordan, DJ Khaled, Daniel Levy, Loni Love, Leslie Mann, Jillian Mercado, Robin Thicke, Gabrielle Union Wade and John David Washington.

Jonathan Krisel is directing.

 

Sarah Shahi to Star Opposite Dwayne Johnson in New Line & DC Films’ “Black Adam” 

Sarah Shahi has been paired up with a Rock-in’ co-star…

The 40-year-old part-Spanish actress has joined the cast of New Line and DC Films’ highly anticipated Black Adam starring Dwayne Johnson in the title role. Aldis Hodge is also on board to play Hawkman with Noah Centineo set to play Atom Smasher.

Sarah Shahi

Jaume Collet-Serra, who also directed Johnson alongside Emily Blunt in Disney’s Jungle Cruise, will helm. Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia of Seven Bucks Productions are producing with Beau Flynn of FlynnPictureCo.

The character is one of DC’s most popular anti-heroes and plot details are being kept tightly under wraps. It is the second New Line/DC film following 2019’s critical and commercial smash hit Shazam!. The two characters, Shazam and Black Adam, are arch rivals in the DC Universe.

In the film, Shahi will play a university professor and freedom fighter leading the resistance in Kahndaq.

Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani wrote the latest draft. Adam Sztykiel wrote the previous draft.

Shahi is currently shooting the Netflix series Sex/Life and received critical acclaim for her performance in the Showtime series City On A Hill. Her TV credits include The Rookie, Reverie, Person of Interest, The L Word and Fairly Legal.

Sarah Shahi Lands Recurring Role on Showtime’s Drama Series “City On a Hill”

The Hill(s) are alive for Sarah Shahi

The 39-year-old half-Spanish American actressand former Person of Interest star has landed a key recurring role opposite Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge in City On A Hill, Showtime’s upcoming drama series executive produced by Ben AffleckMatt Damonand Jennifer Todd

Created, written and executive produced by Chuck MacLean and based on an original idea by Affleck, City on a Hill is set in the early 1990s Boston, rife with violent criminals emboldened by local law enforcement agencies in which corruption and racism was the norm. 

The fictional account centers on assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (Hodge) who arrives from Brooklyn and forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran, Jackie Rohr (Bacon). Together, they take on a family of armored car robbers from Charlestown in a case that grows to involve, and ultimately subvert, the entire criminal justice system of Boston.

Shahi will portray Rachel Behnam, a street-smart investigator for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

Produced by Showtime, City On A Hill also stars Jonathan Tucker, Mark O’BrienJill HennessyLauren E. Banks, Amanda ClaytonKevin Chapman and Tony nominee Jere Shea, with Kevin Dunnrecurring.

Production on the new 10-episode series will begin next month in New York and Boston, and will premiere later this year.

Shahi, who previously headlined USA Network’s drama Fairly Legal, co-starred as Sameen Shaw on CBS’ Person of Interest, played Carmen on The L Word, recurred on Chicago Fire, Pitch and most recently starred on Reverie.