Tag Archives: Blade II

Guillermo del Toro to Receive VES Award for Creative Excellence from Visual Effects Society

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Guillermo del Toro is being celebrated for his creative genius…

The 57-year-old Mexican Oscar-winning film director, producer, screenwriter and author will receive the Visual Effects Society’s career honor next month.

Guillermo del Torodel Toro, a two-time Oscar winner for The Shape of Water — whose credits also include such effect-laden films as Pan’s Labyrinth, Blade II and the Pacific Rim and Hellboy films — will pick up the VES Award for Creative Excellence during the 20th anniversary VES Awards on March 8 at the Beverly Hilton.

“Guillermo is a fiercely inventive storyteller, who has pushed the boundaries of filmmaking,” VES Board Chair Lisa Cooke said. “An exemplary talent, he has consistently elevated not just the technical aspect of visual effects but also the emotional.”

Del Toro is up for the Best Picture Academy Award again this year for Nightmare Alley, his reimagining of the gritty 1947 noir Nightmare Alley. 

The film starring Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett has four total Oscar nominations and will vie for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature at the VES Awards.

Along with his writing and directing credits, del Toro also is a prolific producer of such acclaimed and successful films as The Orphanage, Julia’s Eyes, Biutiful, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots and Mama. 

He studied makeup effects with legendary artist Dick Smith; spent 10 years as a special-effects makeup designer; and formed his own company, Necropia.

The VES Award for Creative Excellence recognizes individuals who’ve made significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by uniquely and consistently creating compelling and creative imagery in service to story, per the group.

“Guillermo is an amazing creative force and a defining voice in our global community, and his body of work is a rich source of inspiration for future generations of artists and innovators,” Cooke added.

Netflix Orders Guillermo del Toro Horror Anthology Series “Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight”

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Guillermo del Toro is expanding his partnership with Netflix…

The 53-year-old Mexican filmmaker, the creator of Netflix’s Emmy-winning DreamWorks Trollhunters, is creating a live-action program on the Netflix.

Guillermo del Toro

The online streaming service has ordered Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight, its first original horror anthology series.

The series is described as a collection of the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s personally curated stories, described as both equally sophisticated and horrific.

The Shape of Water writer-director created the series and will write and direct certain episodes. In addition, he’ll handpick a team of top horror writers and new filmmakers to bring his selection of stories to life.

Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight is a Netflix production. The project extends del Toro and Netflix’s collaboration that began with the animated series DreamWorks Trollhunters, which returns May 25 for the third and final season. The Emmy-winning Trollhunters is the first installment of a trilogy dubbed DreamWorks’ Tales of Arcadia. The next chapter, 3 Below, debuts later this year followed by Wizards in 2019.

Del Toro’s The Shape of Water, which earned four Oscars this year, including Best Picture, Best Director for del Toro, Best Original Score and Best Production Design.

His previous films alternate between Spanish-language dark fantasy pieces, such as The Devil’s Backbone (2001), and triple Oscar winner Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and American studio movies such as the vampire superhero action pic Blade II (2002), the supernatural adventures Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) and the sci-fi monsters-versus-robots film Pacific Rim (2013).

Varela to Star in the Ice Age Epic “The Solutrean”

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It’s back to the “ice age, baby” for Leonor Varela…

The 43-year-old Chilean actress has landed a supporting role in Studio 8’s ice age epic The Solutrean from director Albert Hughes.

Leonor Varela

Inspired by the controversial “solutrean hypothesis,” which advances the idea that Stone Age Europeans might have been among the earliest settlers of the Americas, the coming-of-age tale of survival is set 20,000 years ago.

It follows a young boy injured during a hunting expedition and left for dead who must use his skills, intuition and force of will to make it back home. Along the way, he befriends a wolf, who becomes his close companion.

Varela is playing the shaman of the boy’s tribe; described as wise, powerful and compelling, she performs religious rituals of protection, healing and thanksgiving.

Varela most recently appeared in Paramount Pictures’ Captive, opposite Kate Mara, David Oyelowo and Michael Kenneth Williams.

Her other credits include Ride opposite Helen Hunt and Luke Wilson, a seven-episode arc on TNT’s Dallas, and Odd Thomas with Anton Yelchin and Willem Dafoe. She also appeared in Blade II and The Tailor of Panama.

XLrator Media Acquires U.S. Rights to Vargas’ “Crossing Point”

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Jacob Vargas’ latest project is crossing into the United States…

XLrator Media has acquired the U.S. rights to Crossing Point, the film starring the 44-year-old Mexican actor.

Jacob Vargas

Along with Vargas, the action-thriller stars Rudy Youngblood (Apocalypto), Luke Goss (the Death Race series, Blade II), Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan), Paulina Gaitan (Sin Nombre, Netflix’s Narcos), María Gabriela de Faría (Nickelodeon’s Isa TKM) and newcomer Shawn Lock.

It’s directed by Daniel Zirilli from a script by Paul Dominic and Lock.

Compound B, the genre division of Bleiberg Entertainment, is representing the sales rights to the film and will be introducing Crossing Point to international buyers at the American Film Market 2015.

XLrator Media will release the film in 2016 through its Turbo action label.

Varela Expecting Her First Child

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Leonor Varela is preparing for the most challenging role of her life: Mother.

The 39-year-old Chilean actress/model is pregnant with her first child, according to People magazine.

Leonor Varela

Varela—who portrays con artist Veronica Martinez on TNT‘s Dallas reboot, which was picked up for a second season recently—is expecting her child with producer Lucas Akoskin, who is currently working on Words with Gods.

“The couple [is] over the moon,” Varela’s rep tells the magazine.

Varela’s previous credits include Blade II and Cleopatra.