Michael Cimino to Star in Thriller Podcast Series “Jane Anonymous” for Apple Podcasts & the Fictionz App

Michael Cimino is ready to thrill

The 22-year-old half-Puerto Rican will star opposite Mina Sundwall in the thriller podcast series Jane Anonymous, which will premiere exclusively on Apple Podcasts and the Fictionz App.

Michael CiminoThe series based on the novel of the same name by Laurie Faria Stolarz was adapted by Stephanie Wu.

It will follow Jane (Sundwall), a 18-year-old girl who fights to escape a kidnapper—examining her relationship with a fellow captive (Cimino), and their struggle to understand that everything they thought they knew might all be a lie.

Andres Rosende, who produces and edits the popular Bad Friends podcast from comedians Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino, is directing the series, which will consist of five, 20-minute episodes.

The first is slated for release on June 2nd. Sundwall and Cimino are exec producing alongside Fictionz, which is serving as the project’s financier and distributor.

“Laurie’s confessional style of writing lends itself well to the podcast medium,” said Rosende. “This has been a passion project for me since Fictionz brought me the book.”

“It has been such a great experience working with everyone and playing off of Michael in adapting this book to audio!,” said Sundwall.

“Through Andres’ direction and Laurie and Stephanie’s writing, Mina and I have become completely absorbed in this narrative as actors and producers and hope that audiences will love it as much as we do,” added Cimino.

Cimino plays the titular character on Hulu’s Love, Victor series and can also currently be seen in Netflix’s Rebel Wilson comedy Senior Year. Additional credits include Annabelle Comes Home and the podcast series Black Box, with Joel McHale, Kelsey Grammer and more.

Rosende also recently served as the director of Fictionz’s Two Year Man. Wu penned Two Year Man, helmed the short Green Plastic Sandals with Rosende and co-wrote Sara Zandieh’s feature rom-com, A Simple Wedding.

Michael Cimino to Star in Paramount Players’ “Senior Year”

Michael Cimino is having a senior moment…

The 21-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor will star in Paramount Players’ “Senior Year,” starring and produced by Rebel Wilson.

Michael Cimino

Cimino, the start of Hulu’s Love, Victor series, joins a roster of new cast additions that includes Jade BenderJeremy Ray Taylor and Avantika.

Wilson as a woman who wakes up from a 20-year coma and returns to high school to try to regain her status as a popular cheerleader and claim the prom queen crown that eluded her.

Cimino stars as Victor Salazar in Hulu’s Love, Victor, which debuted its second season last month to critical acclaim. The actor also starred in Annabelle Comes Home and will next be featured in Black Box and Heartlight.

Also added to the cast are Joshua Colley, newcomer Ana Yi Puig, Molly Brown, Zaire Adams and Tyler Barnhardt.

The comedy’s starry ensemble also features Sam Richardson, Angourie Rice, Justin Hartley, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Chris Parnell and Alicia Silverstone.

Adriana Barraza to Star in Amazon Studios’ ‘Welcome To The Blumhouse’ Anthology Horror Film “Bingo”

Adriana Barraza is playing bingo

The 65-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated actress will serve up some scares in Amazon Studios’ next slate of films in the horror anthology Welcome To The Blumhouse. Barraza will star in Bingo directed and co-written by rising genre filmmaker Gigi Saul Guerrero. The film is currently in production.

Adriana Barraza

The collaboration is a Latinx-driven narrative that includes two generations of Mexican artists. In this case, Barraza and the up and comer Guerrero.

Set in the barrio of Oak Springs, Bingo follows a strong and stubborn group of elderly friends who refuse to be gentrified.  Barraza plays the leader of the pack, Lupita, a “chingona” who grew up in the neighborhood formerly filled with crime and dangerous characters. Lupita has dedicated her life to cleaning up the neighborhood and creating a community the residents could be proud to call home. Little does Lupita and her friends know, their beloved bingo hall (hence the title) is about to be sold to a much more powerful force than money itself.

Bingo continues Amazon Prime Video’s Welcome to the Blumhouse slate of genre, horror-thriller films highlighting female and emerging filmmakers, and diverse casts with new and established actors in unexpected roles. The upcoming 2021 slate for the anthology also includes The Manor, Black as Night, and Madres

Guerrero co-wrote Bingo with Shane McKenzie and Perry Blackshear. The film comes from Blumhouse Television and Amazon Studios.

Prime Video launched the Welcome to the Blumhouse in October of last year with Black
Box
, The Lie, Evil Eye and Nocturne.

Barraza’s career spans more than 40 years in film, television and theater. In 1999, Barraza starred in a breakout role opposite Gael Garcia Bernal in Amores Perros directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, who she worked with again in 2006 on BabelShe is one of only six Mexican actresses to ever receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Tenoch Huerta to Star in “Madres,” One of Amazon Prime Video’s Final Four “Welcome to the Blumhouse” Films

Tenoch Huerta is heading to the Blumhouse

The next chapter of Welcome to the Blumhouse is ready to deliver thrills while highlighting some of today’s emerging and inclusive talent in front of and behind the camera, including the 39-year-old Mexican actor.

Tenoch Huerta

Amazon Prime Video has unveiled The ManorBlack as Night, Madres, starring Huerta, and Bingo as the final four films in the eight-film genre anthology. The quartet will debut on the streaming platform in 2021.

Welcome to the Blumhouse kicked off at the beginning of October with its first slate of films including The Lie from Veena SudBlack Box from up-and-coming writer-director Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr., Evil Eye from emerging filmmakers Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani, and Nocturne from filmmaker Zu Quirke.

“Coming off the successful launch of the first four films of the program, which has surpassed our expectations, we are excited to reveal the next chapter coming in 2021,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “The spine-tingling, edge-of-your-seat thrills continues in this next collection of titles that will surely entertain, surprise and shock our global customers.”

“We’re thrilled to see how audiences around the world have responded to the films in the Welcome to the Blumhouse slate,” said Jeremy Gold, president of Blumhouse Television. “We couldn’t be prouder of the work of these talented filmmakers, cast and crew on all the movies…and we’re excited to introduce the next wave of films and the incredible filmmakers at their helm.”

The second round of thrillers continues the anthology’s original, elevated, genre storytelling that is a Blumhouse signature. Centered around unsettling themes of institutional horrors and personal phobias, the films tap into people’s deepest fears, presenting a distinctive vision and unique perspective.

Similar to the first four films of the program, the slate continues with a thruline, making it the first-ever program of Amazon Original movies on Prime Video that are thematically connected.

Here are details about the final four films and the talent behind them.

  • The Manor is written and directed by Axelle Carolyn, and stars Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Nicholas Alexander, Jill Larsen, Fran Bennett and Katie Amanda Keane. After suffering a stroke, Judith Albright moves into a historic nursing home, where she begins to suspect something supernatural is preying on the residents. In order to escape she’ll need to convince everyone around her that she doesn’t actually belong there after all. Executive produced by Jason Blum, Jeremy Gold, Marci Wiseman, Lisa Bruce, Sandy King and Richard J Bosner.
  • Black as Night is directed by Maritte Lee Go and written by Sherman Payne. The cast stars Asjha Cooper, Fabrizio Guido, Craig Tate, Keith David, Mason Beauchamp, Abbie Gayle and Frankie Smith. A teenage girl with self-esteem issues finds confidence in the most unlikely way, by spending her summer battling vampires that prey on New Orleans’ disenfranchised with the help of her best friend, the boy she’s always pined for, and a peculiar rich girl. Executive produced by Jason Blum, Jeremy Gold, Marci Wiseman, Lisa Bruce, Maggie Malina and Guy Stodel.
  • Madres is directed by first-time feature director Ryan Zaragoza and written by Marcella Ochoa & Mario Miscione. Starring Tenoch Huerta, Ariana Guerra, Evelyn Gonzalez, Kerry Cahill, and Elpidia Carrillo. A Mexican-American couple expecting their first child relocate to a migrant farming community in 1970’s California. When the wife begins to experience strange symptoms and terrifying visions, she tries to determine if it’s related to a legendary curse or something more nefarious. Executive produced by Jason Blum, Jeremy Gold, Marci Wiseman, Lisa Bruce, Sanjay Sharma and Matthew Myers.
  • Bingo is directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero and written by Shane McKenzie & Gigi Saul Guerrero, along with Perry Blackshear. In the Barrio of Oak Springs live a strong and stubborn group of elderly friends who refuse to be gentrified. Their leader, Lupita, keeps them together as a community, a family. But little did they know, their beloved Bingo hall is about to be sold to a much more powerful force than money itself. Executive produced by Jason Blum, Jeremy Gold, Marci Wiseman and Raynor Shima.

Michael Cimino Joins Voice Cast of Science-Fiction Podcast “Black Box”

Michael Cimino is a pea in a pod(cast)

The 20-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor and Love Victor star has joined the voice cast for Black Box, the upcoming scripted science fiction podcast from Reverb Podcasts and Soundproof Media.

Michael Cimino

Cimino joins an ensemble cast that includes Joel McHale, Brec BassingerChosen Jacobs and Jacob Bertrand.

Described as an homage to Spielbergian ’80s adventure films, the podcast will follow four unwitting teenagers who stumble upon the wreckage of a crashed time machine and are thrust into the middle of a conspiracy that threatens to unhinge time itself.

Cimino, Bassenger, Jacobs and Bertrand play the lead teenagers, while McHale plays a brilliant scientist whose ego and ambition spiral down a villainous path. The audio drama is written and directed by Brian Siegele and produced by Siegele and Chase Kinser for emerging content studios Reverb Podcasts and Soundproof Media.

Recording for Black Box began in August, making the production among the first podcast projects approved by SAG-AFTRA for full cast studio recording in the COVID-19 era. The producers are said to have implemented rigorous testing and safety protocols in addition to building transparent barriers in the studio so the cast could record together in person.

Production is still in progress with additional casting being finalized now. The eight-episode first season is projected to premiere in early 2021.

“We wanted the performers to play off each other in a way that remote recording doesn’t allow, but also ensure a risk-free working space,” noted Siegele. “We are thankful to have been able to accomplish this with guidance from SAG-AFTRA and coordination from our incredible cast.”

Audio company Reverb was founded last year. Soundproof Media is a new content firm focused on audio, television and film projects

“The Craft: Legacy” Star Zoey Luna to Take Part in Blumhouse’s Virtual “BlumFest”

Life is Blum a dream for Zoey Luna

The 19-year-old Latina transgender actress will be taking part in Blumhouse’s first-ever BlumFest, a virtual event featuring panels of talent from the studio’s upcoming movies, both big screen and PVOD, and more.

Zoey Luna

The virtual event will take place Thursday, October 29 at 10:00 am PT on Blumhouse’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

“This year has sidelined a lot for all of us, but Halloween is a treasured season at Blumhouse, so we conceived BlumFest to celebrate with our fans via a virtual event that will feature exclusive interviews and never-before-seen footage on an upcoming release or two,” said Jason Blum, Blumhouse’s CEO and founder.

Panels featured include:

Welcome to the Blumhouse – Join Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios and Blum for a lively convo about the collaboration between Amazon and Blumhouse on the recently launched movies The Lie, Nocturne, Evil Eye and Black Box. Mamoudou Athie from the film Black Box will join the duo along with surprise guests. The four films are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

The Craft: Legacy – Writer-director Zoe Lister Jones and the film’s stars Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone and Luna will chat about the cult hit reboot. The movie will debut Wednesday on PVOD and electronic sell-through domestic, with a big-screen release abroad.

Freaky – Writer-director Chris Landon, stars Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton, and Blum will chat about the body-swap horror comedy which hits theaters November 13 and select offshore markets via Universal.

Halloween Kills – Filmmaker David Gordon Green and the horror franchise’s scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, producer Malek Akkad from Trancas Films and Miramax producer Bill Block and Blum will converse about the October 2021 release.

The Good Lord BirdEthan Hawke, EP, writer and star of the Showtime series and Blum, who’ve worked together over several projects, will discuss their most recent collaboration.

Audrey Esparza Signs with APA

Audrey Esparza has new representation…

The 34-year-old Latina actress has signed with APA.

Audrey Esparza

Esparza, who has appeared as Tasha Zapata in the NBC crime drama Blindspot, has a number of television and film credits to her name. Additional titles include Blue Bloods, The Americans, Black Box, Public Morals and Amateurs.

Esparza, a New York Tisch graudate, also acted in the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater production of Underneath My Bed.

Esparza to Star in NBC Drama Pilot “Blindspot”

Audrey Esparza is paying extra attention to her blindspot

The Latina actress has landed a series regular role in the NBC drama pilot Blindspot.

Audrey Esparza

The project follows a woman (Jaimie Alexander) found in Times Square with her memory wiped and no clue as to what the extensive tattoos on her body mean and an FBI agent (Sullivan Stapleton) and his Critical Incident Response Group who investigate her.

Esparza will play a CIRG team members: She is the sharp Tasha Oslo.

Esparza’s credit include appearances on Public Morals, Black Box, and The Americans.