Bichir to Star in “Dom Hemingway”

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He may be known for his dramatic work… But Demian Bichir will soon be showing off his comedic chops on the big screen…

The 49-year-old Mexican actor, who received an Oscar nod this year for his work in A Better Life, will play a crime boss in the black comedy Dom Hemingway from The Matador writer-director Richard Shepard.

Jude Law and Richard E. Grant were already signed on to star in the revenge story. Law plays an eponymous larger-than-life safecracker who’s back on the streets of London after 12 years in prison and anxious to get some money in exchange for keeping his mouth shut. But things take a turn for the worse when he sets off to visit Bichir’s capo in the south of France.

Shooting is expected to start on October 15 in the south of France.

Bichir recently appeared in Oliver Stone’s Savages with Benicio del Toro and Salma Hayek, and he’’ll next be seen in Robert Rodriguez’ Machete Kills with Sofia Vergara and Danny Trejo, as well as Paul Feig’s The Heat with Sandra Bullock.

Gomez Joins Fellow Hollywood Stars to Encourage You to Vote

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Selena Gomez wants you to exercise your right to vote…

The 20-year-old Mexican American actress currently appears in a star-studded video created by actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire.

The video from Vote 4 Stuff – a nonpartisan voter engagement campaign – features Gomez and a number of actors, including Joseph Gordon Levitt, Zac Efron, Benicio Del Toro, Ellen Degeneres and Amanda Seyfried, talking about what they’d like to vote for.

In the clip, the Hollywood stars answer the question, “If you could vote for anything in the world, what would you vote for?”

Their responses are inane at first. Gordon-Levitt demands an end to dubstep. Efron wants more high fives, while Gomez says, “I vote yes to anything Zac Efron says.”

But the video gets more and more serious as it progresses, with the actors asking viewers to make videos about the real issues that are important to them. Some of the tweets, videos and other content collected will be incorporated into the campaign as the election draws closer.

“This is one of the most important elections of our lifetime. We are using the power of social media throughout the Vote 4 Stuff campaign to incite bi-partisan conversation around real issues, encourage registration and voting in November,” DiCaprio said in a statement about the new video.

Bichir Feeling “The Heat” with Sandra Bullock

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Demián Bichir’s star continues to rise in Hollywood…

The 48-year-old Mexican actor, who earned his first Oscar nomination this year for his role in A Better Life, has signed on to star opposite Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in The Heat.

In his first English-language comedy, Bichir will play an FBI agent.

Bichir, who was last seen starring opposite Benicio del Toro and Salma Hayek in Oliver Stone’s Savages earlier this summer, recently wrapped up work on Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills with Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba and Sofia Vergara.

del Toro to Star in “Jimmy Picard”

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Benicio Del Toro is about to have an Indian summer…

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican actor has been cast in Jimmy Picard, a drama being adapted from Reality and Dream: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian by acclaimed ethnologist and psychologist Georges Devereux.

It’s the true story of the friendship between a Native American and a French psychoanalyst.

The Oscar-winning actor will play the title character, a Plains Indian member of the Blackfeet nation who returns from the World War II battlefield and experiences various medical symptoms, none of which can be explained physically. He travels to the famed Winter Hospital in Topeka, Kansas, where he encounters Georges Devereux, a French ethno-psychiatrist considered to have a strong understanding of the modern Native American. Through their sessions, the two men, foreign to themselves and to their country, become friends.

Shooting on the film, which will also star Mathieu Amalric and Gina McKee, is set to begin on June 18 in Michigan.

Meanwhile, del Toro will next appear in the Oliver Stone’s Savages with Salma Hayek and Blake Lively.

del Toro to Star Opposite Cameron Diaz in “Agent: Century 21”

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Benicio del Toro will be teaming up with one of Charlie’s Angels in the near future…

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican actor has signed on to star in Agent: Century 21 opposite Cameron Diaz. It would be the latest project for the 39-year-old half-Cuban American actress, who is reportedly in final negotiations to star in director Ridley Scott’s The Counselor.

Directed by Adam Hashemi, the action centers on a down-on-her-luck real estate agent named Mary Kay Curly (played by Diaz), a recent divorcee who can’t seem to catch a break. Desperate to protect her real estate job and her kids, she agrees to take on an unpleasant task for her boss that gets her kidnapped and tossed into the center of a Mexican drug war.

“Agent: Century 21 is an adrenaline-infused comedy that brings together two of the hottest stars in Hollywood,” Exclusive co-chairman Guy East and Nigel Sinclair said. “It’s a dream combination, and with our friend Andrew producing the film, it doesn’t get much better than this.”

Andrew Lazar and David Greenblatt are producing the film with Shane Black, who is directing the upcoming Iron Man 3.

The film is set to begin shooting in September.

Bichir Firming Up Post-Oscars Projects

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He’s one of Mexico’s beloved actors… And, now it appears Demián Bichir is on the verge of superstardom in Hollywood…

The 48-year-old Mexican actor—who received an Academy Award nomination for his critically acclaimed performance in A Better Life—is lining up his next two English-language projects.

Bichir is currently in talks to join the cast of Machete Kills, the follow-up to Robert Rodriguez‘s cult classic Machete. Co-starring Jessica Alba and Mel Gibson, the sequel will find Danny Trejo’s iconic character Machete battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer looking to launch a weapon into space.

In addition, Bichir will star in William Friedkin‘s thriller Trapped, where he’ll reportedly play an Israeli agent.

Bichir—who got his start in Mexican telenovelas before crossing over into English-language projects, including an acclaimed recurring role on Showtime’s Weeds, can next be seen in Oliver Stone’s upcoming dramatic thriller Savages, co-starring Salma Hayek and Benicio del Toro

Rodriguez to Make a “Sin City” Sequel

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Robert Rodriguez is heading back to Sin City…

The 43-year-old Mexican-American filmmaker and Frank Miller have announced plans to film a sequel to their 2005 cult classic Sin City, a film that explores the dark and miserable town, Basin City, and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption.

Entitled Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, the upcoming film was developed by Miller from his graphic novel of the same name, and scripted by Miller and William Monahan. The film will be distributed once again by Dimension Films.

“Audiences have been clamoring for Sin City 2 with Robert and Frank for a long time and trust me, it will be worth the wait,” said Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company. “This will be my 11th collaboration with Robert in 16 years and he’s become a great friend. I look forward to continuing our long lasting relationship and partnering on more projects in the future.”

Production is slated to begin this summer at Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas with casting starting next week. According to the official release, much of the film’s original cast is expected to return— though the release didn’t specify if the characters who died in the first film would be popping up again.

The original film—which proved to be a landmark step forward in filmmaking, breaking ground with immersive green screen to create its iconic stylish look included appearances by some of today’s hottest Latino stars, including Jessica Alba, Alexis Bledel, Rosario Dawson and Benicio del Toro.

Sin City, released on April 1, 2005, grossed over $160 million.

Trailer for Hayek & del Toro’s “Savages” Released

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

If you’ll be heading to el cine this weekend, you may spot Salma Hayek and Benecio del Toro…

The first trailer for Oliver Stone’s film Savages, starring the 45-year-old Mexican actress and 45-year-old Puerto Rican actor, will play before American Reunion.

The film, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Don Winslow, centers on two pot growers from Laguna who are muscled by a Mexican drug cartel.

When the cartel kidnaps the woman they share, the growers come up with a novel but dangerous way to pay the ransom.

In addition to Hayek and del Toro, the film stars recent-Oscar nominee Demian Bichir, Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta and Emile Hirsch.

Savages is set to open in theaters on July 6.

del Toro Encouraging Puerto Ricans to Reject Domestic Violence

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Benicio del Toro is encouraging people in his native Puerto Rico to love themselves and reject domestic violence.

The 44-year-old Oscar-winning actor, the official spokesperson of the “Aprendi a quererme” campaign, will give motivational messages along with the Christian pop rock group Sueño de Hormiga in the media, on Facebook and the campaign’s website.

“Who the heck said that to really love you have to put up with so many insults, shouting and humiliation. Get out of here … Learn to love yourself,” del Toro demands in one of the campaign’s television spots.

In addition to convincing people to love themselves, the campaign also hopes to teach people to avoid becoming victims of the pattern of mistreatment and for the aggressors to value their family and learn to keep their anger in check

Sueño de Hormiga’s Richie Dalmau added that the campaign is designed to get people to recognize that families need to instill positive values and family members need to treat each other with respect.

The campaign comes in response to the wave of violence on the island of Puerto Rico, where a record number of 1,136 murders were committed in 2011.

First Look: del Toro Playing a Savage in Oliver Stone’s Latest Film…

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He won an Academy Award for playing a Tijuana police officer who helps catch drug dealers in Traffic… And, now Benicio del Toro is preparing to switch sides in Oliver Stone’s latest feature.

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican/Spanish actor appears as a menacing Mafioso in the all-star crime drama Savages.

In one of the film’s recently released stills, del Toro is shown blowing what appears to be marijuana smoke into Blake Lively after taking her hostage.

Savages centers on two friends—played by Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch—who happen to share the same girlfriend (Lively) and work together to sell high-quality pot.

When the drug-dealing duo resist being muscled by del Toro’s character, the Mafioso has Lively’s character kidnapped. The ransom? Every cent the two made for the last five years. The two friends finally agree to pay but come up with an alternate plan to rescue their girlfriend, get revenge, and then get the heck out of dodge.

Directed by Stone, the movie will include performances by Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Salma Hayek and Demián Bichir, who recently landed his first Oscar nomination.

Savages is scheduled for release on September 28.

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