Lin-Manuel Miranda to Serve as Co-Chair & Host of This Year’s Met Gala

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is ready to Met a new challenge…

The 42-year-old Puerto Rican actor, singer-songwriter, rapper, playwright, producer and film director will as one of the hosts and co-chairs of this year’s Met Gala.

Miranda will host the event, which will reflect the strong Hollywood theme, alongside Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Regina King.

The Met Gala, set for May 2, a primary source of income for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, follows last September’s scaled-back, pandemic-restricted “mini-gala” that launched the Met’s two-part exhibition “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.”

The exhibit will include “cinematic vignettes” exploring the roots of American fashion and designed by film directors King, Sofia Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Chloé Zhao, Tom Ford, Janicza Bravo, Julie Dash and Autumn de Wilde.

Ford, Adam Mosseri and Anna Wintour will continue their roles as honorary co-chairs for the May event.

The “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” exhibit will open to the public on May 7.

Lin-Manuel Miranda to Star Opposite Blake Lively in the Romantic Comedy “The Making Of”

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is making new moves…

The 40-year-old Puerto Rican actor/singer and Broadway star will star in The Making Of, a romantic comedy written and produced by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz.

In addition to Miranda, who recently earned a spot of Forbes’ High-Paid Actors list, the film will also star Richard Gere, Diane Keaton and Blake Lively.

The Making Of centers on two couples: long-married filmmakers (Gere and Keaton) have cast overemotional actors (Lively and Miranda) to portray their younger selves in the story of their great love. Unfortunately, by the time shooting begins, their fabled marriage is unraveling. The filmmakers want to make a hit; the actors want to tell the true story. Whose version really is the truth? And how do they distinguish between real love and movie love when their lives and their work become hopelessly intertwined?

The film will be a production of Zwick & Herskovitz’ The Bedford Falls Company. It will shoot next spring.

Miranda can currently be seen on Disney+ in the film version of his Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hamilton.

Miranda previously starred in Speech & Debate, Mary Poppins Returns and The Odd Life of Timothy Green. He’ll appear in the film adaptation of another of his Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals, In The Heights.

Johnathan Fernandez to Star on HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” Series Reimagining

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Johnathan Fernandez is ready to spill the tea…

The 46-year-old Colombian and Honduran American actor joined Emily Alyn Lindin Gossip Girl, HBO Max’s upcoming series reimagining of the pop culture phenomenon that made household names of stars like Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick.

Fernandez joins a roster of new cast additions that includes Whitney Peak, Eli Brown and Jason Gotay.S

The 10-episode series hails from Joshua Safran, Josh Schwartzand Stephanie Savage’s Fake Empire, Alloy Entertainment, Warner Bros Televisionand CBS Television Studios.

Like the original series, the new iteration of Gossip Girl, written by Safran, is based on the book by Cecily von Ziegesar. Eight years after the original website went dark, a new generation of New York private school teens are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl.

The prestige series will address just how much social media — and the landscape of New York itself — has changed in the intervening years.

No official character descriptions for the quartet are being released. The new series is said to have a similar character dynamic to the original, with Peak, Brown and Lind as the leading trio and Fernandez and Gotay as members of the core ensemble.

Gossip Girlran for six seasons from 2007-2012 on the CW across 121 episodes. Its influence extended beyond television.Fernandez was a series regular on another WBTV series, Fox’s Lethal Weapon. For three seasons, he played the dry-toned medical examiner on the series reboot. Fernandez will next appear in the Marvel feature Morbiusand the indie Together-ish.

Jaume Collet-Serra In Talks to Direct “Black Adam”

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Jaume Collet-Serra may have found the Adam’s apple of his eye…

The 45-year-old Spanish film director and producer is in negotiations to direct Black Adam, Warner Bros. and New Line’s spinoff of their DC Comics hit Shazam!.

Adam Sztykielwrote the latest draft of the film, which will star Dwayne Johnson.

Collet-Serra and Johnson just finished collaborating on Disney’s Jungle Cruise, so they look to be sailing off together again on another tentpole project.

Collet-Serra’s past credits include the Liam Neesonthrillers Non-Stop, Run All Nightand The Commuter.

He also helmed the Blake Livelyfilm The Shallows.

Black Adam is Shazam’s arch-nemesis and a complex antihero with a rich history of his own. Johnson was to play the character in the first movie before in the parties decided he warranted his own pic, and he came aboard in January 2017.

Shazam! was a hit when it bowed in April, grossing $362.7 million worldwide, with a sequel already in the works.

Jaenada to Star Opposite Amy Schumer & Goldie Hawn in Mother-Daughter Adventure Comedy

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar Jaenada has a little blonde ambition…

The 41-year-old Spanish actor will star opposite Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn in the still untitled mother-daughter adventure comedy in a yet-to-be-revealed role.

The 20th Century Fox pic is directed by Jonathan Levine and written by Katie Dippold, who drew inspiration from her relationship with her mother.

Jaenada won a Goya Award for his portrayal of legendary flamenco dancer Camaron de la Isla in Camaron: When Flamenco Became Legend, and will next be seen opposite Blake Lively this summer in the Cannes Film Festival thriller The Shallows, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

His other credits include the lead role in Cantinflas, Mexico’s 2015 foreign language Oscar submission, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Steven Soderbergh’s Che.

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.

Saldaña Named the New International Face of L’Oréal Paris

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Zoë Saldaña is the new face of beauty worldwide…

The 35-year-old half-Dominican/half-Puerto Rican American actress and Star Trek star has signed on as the new international spokesperson of L’Oréal Paris, according to E! News.

“Growing up, I was taught to believe that I am capable to do anything a man can do,” says the Colombiana actress. “This family philosophy has shaped who I am today, and is a conviction that will always accompany me through life.”

“As a L’Oréal Paris spokesperson, being able to say, ‘We’re worth it,’ means so much to me,” she continued. “I want to share that value with women so they can embrace it and execute life with confidence. I am thrilled to join this beauty journey with such an inspirational brand.”

Saldana’s campaign will include print and television ads.

“Zoe astonishes with her audacious style and feline beauty,” says Cyril Chapuy, L’Oréal Paris’ brand global president. “Attached to her values, unafraid to speak her mind, and confident in her own skin, she embodies infallible force and asserted femininity.”

The beauty giant’s roster of celeb spokespersons also includes Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Freida Pinto, Eva Longoria and Jane Fonda.

Saldana’s next projects include a television mini-series remake of Rosemary’s Baby, a biopic about singer Nina Simone and the film adaptation of the comic book Guardians of the Galaxy.

In addition, she’s committed to reprise her role in the next three Avatar films.

del Toro Starring as Drug Lord Pablo Escobar in “Paradise Lost”

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Don’t blame Benicio del Toro if he gets a little lost in his new role…

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican will be starring as notoriousdrug lord Pablo Escobar in Paradise Lost. And it looks like The Hunter Games’ Josh Hutcherson could be del Toro’s co-star. He’s currently in negotiations to join the cast.

Directed/written by Life of Pi scribe Andrea di Stefano, the film isn’t exactly an Escobar biopic, but is instead being compared to The Last King of Scotland.

Hutcherson would actually be the principal character in the fact-based tale. He’d portray Nick, a young Irish surfer who visits his brother in Colombia. There he meets the love of his life — until he meets her uncle Pablo.

The film will begin production in Panama in March.

del Toro most recently starred opposite Salma Hayek and Blake Lively in Oliver Stone‘s Savages, where he played the henchman to Hayek’s drug-dealing character.

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.

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.

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