Blumhouse to Premiere Justina Machado’s “The Horror of Dolores Roach” in July Via Prime Video

Justina Machado is bringing the horror…

Blumhouse will premiere its new series The Horror of Dolores Roach, starring the 50-year-old Puerto Rican actress, on July 7 via Prime Video.

Justina MachadoThe 8-episode series—based on the hit Gimlet podcast series of the same name—tells the story of Dolores Roach (Machado), a recently released prisoner who after 16 years returns to find a severely-gentrified Washington Heights with $200 and the clothes on her back. Her boyfriend missing, her family long gone, Dolores reunites with an old stoner buddy, Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), who gives her room and board and lets her give massages for cash in the basement under his dilapidated storefront Empanada Loca, the only remnant of her former life.

When the promise of her newfound stability is quickly threatened, “Magic Hands Dolores” is driven to shocking extremes to survive, and in the face of unexpected professional success, Dolores and Luis become dangerously symbiotic, and Luis must unleash his own peculiar predilections.

Kita Updike, K. Todd Freeman, Jean Yoon, Judy Reyes and Jeffery Self also star.

Written and directed by podcast creator Aaron Mark, The Horror of Dolores Roach originally was developed by Mark as a one-woman play starring Daphne Rubin-Vega. It is a grotesque Sweeney Todd-inspired tale of eat or be eaten — a macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest.

Mark and Dara Resnik will serve as co-showrunners and executive produce. EPs also include Rubin-Vega; Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, and Jeremy Gold for Blumhouse Television; Dawn Ostroff, Mimi O’Donnell, and Justin McGoldrick for Spotify Studios, alongside Gloria Calderón Kellett for GloNation Studios and Roxann Dawson who directs the pilot.

Raúl Martínez Signs with The Gersh Agency

Raúl Martínez has new representation…

The Gersh Agency has signed the 51-year-old Mexican director.

Raúl Martínez,Martinez is known for Spanish-language titles including The Waiter, which came in as the highest-grossing film native to the country in its July 2021 debut.

In the comedy penned by Alberto Bremer and Martínez, a waiter pretends to be an important businessman in order to reach the upper class through his entrepreneurial dreams.

Other notable big-screen titles from Martínez include Cuando sea joven for Eugenio Derbez’s 3Pas Studios and Lionsgate’s PantelionThe Patriarch for Panorama Global and Distant Horizon; and Grumpy Christmas for Panorama and Netflix.

Martínez is currently attached to direct the comedy Cholitas, based on a script by Jason Richman and Kira Kalush, for 20th Century Studios and Hulu. Blumhouse will produce alongside Michael Seitzman’s Maniac Productions, with casting underway.

The Mexico City-based artist, who has also helmed over 40 episodes of the sketch-comedy series Backdoor, continues to be managed by Jorge Garcia.

Alejandro Edda to Star in Kevin Costner’s Epic Western Film Saga “Horizon”

Alejandro Edda is just beyond the horizon

The 38-year-old Mexican–American actor has joined the ensemble cast of Kevin Costner’s epic Western film saga Horizon at Warner Bros/New Line.

Alejandro EddaEdda is among a list of new cast additions that includes Jena Malone, Tatanka Means and Michael Rooker.

The foursome join an expanding roster that includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jamie Campbell Bower, Luke Wilson and Thomas Haden Church.

Costner will produce through his Territory Pictures, and direct and star in the period film, which he co-wrote with Jon Baird.

Horizon chronicles a multi-faceted 15-year span of pre- and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American West. Experienced through the eyes of many, the epic journey is fraught with peril and intrigue from the constant onslaught of natural elements, to the interactions with the indigenous peoples who lived on the land, and the determination and at many times ruthlessness of those who sought to settle it.

Costner returns to directing for the first time since his 2003 box office hit Open Range. With Horizon, Costner revisits Civil War-era America, the setting for his 1990 blockbuster and multi-Oscar winner Dances with Wolves, which he also directed, produced and starred in. That film won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Costner.

Edda was last seen on the FX series Snowfall and is returning to Season 6 as a regular. He stars as El Chapo in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico and starred opposite Tom Cruise in American Made and in Universal/Blumhouse’s The Forever Purge.

Justina Machado to Star in Mario Garcia’s Indie Comedy “The Throwback”

It’s throwback time for Justina Machado.

The 49-year-old Puerto Rican actress will star opposite Will Sasso in The Throwback, an indie comedy marking the feature directorial debut of Mario Garcia.

Justina MachadoThe project will be heading into production in Tampa next month.

The film follows a married couple (Machado and Sasso) in full-blown midlife crisis who are thrown into further turmoil when the wife (Machado), an underappreciated and stressed ‘supermom,’ suffers a post-traumatic breakdown during the holiday season, causing her to regress to her 19-year-old college party-girl self.

Garcia wrote the script and will produce via his company Garcia Interactive, alongside Michael A. Alfieri of Miantri Films and Doug Fox. Machado and Sasso’s longtime manager, Danielle Del, will executive produce alongside Machado and Sterling Macer Jr.

Machado recently starred as Penelope on Sony Picture Television’s revival of One Day at a Time. She will next be seen in the Blumhouse-produced Amazon series, The Horror of Dolores Roach.

The actress has also been seen on series like Queen of the SouthJane the Virgin and Six Feet Under, among many others.

Her additional film credits include All Together NowThe Purge: AnarchyThe Call and The Accidental Husband.

Issa López Developing Fourth Installment of HBO’s “True Detective” Series with Barry Jenkins

Issa López is holding True to her at…

The Mexican producer, writer and film director is joining forces with Barry Jenkins to develop a fourth iteration of HBO’s True Detective.

Issa LópezThe WarnerMedia-owned cable network is developing True Detective: Night Country (working title), a new take on the crime drama.

The series, created and written by Nic Pizzolatto, ran for three seasons between 2014 and 2019.

López will write, executive-produce and direct the pilot with Jenkins executive-producing via his collective Pastel alongside Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak.

Anonymous Content, which produced the first three installments will also executive produce with other True Detective EPs, so presumably Pizzolatto will be among those listed.

López is the writer and director of Mexican film Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven), which won a slew of awards over the last few years and received praise from the likes of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro.

The latter is also working with Lopez on a haunted western about the werewolf mythology. She is also working with Noah Hawley on Searchlight’s The Book of Souls and with Blumhouse on Our Lady of Tears.

The third season of True Detective aired on HBO in 2019 and starred Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff, set in the Ozarks. It was the follow up to 2015’s Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn-fronted series and the first season, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

Jimmy Gonzales to Star in George Lopez’s Amazon Drama Pilot “Once Upon a Time in Aztlan”

Jimmy Gonzales is right on Time

The Mexican actor has been cast as a lead alongside Arianna Williams on Amazon’s Once Upon a Time in Aztlan, the drama pilot from George Lopez.Jimmy Gonzales

They join previously announced cast LopezJesse Garcia and Annie Gonzalez.

Gonzales stars as the morally compromised Hector, whose pursuit of ‘get rich or die trying’ dreams landed his partner Arturo Duran in prison for thirteen years. Since then, he’s further cemented his influence over the Duran family: He has a son with Lola (Gonzalez) and is the de facto father figure for Angela (Williams). Despite his overtures to legitimize himself, he’s a lifelong hustler who’s baiting the attention of the FBI.

Willians portrays the character of Angela, a Gen-Z Afro Latina, who is described as fiercely independent, confident, and always adapting. The face of our modern Los Angeles. The Duran family have hung their hopes on Angela as their luminary, but she’s in deep debt to her nefarious uncle, who’s co-signed her loans to USC. Her father, Arturo (Garcia) returns to her life after a long absence, presenting a challenging new vision of her future.

Written by Javier Rodriguez, the one-hour drama from STXtelevision and Amazon Studios revolves around a Chicano family in the deep suburbs of Los Angeles as they come to terms with the falsehoods of the American dream, and their ability to defy expectations. The pilot will be directed by Ricardo de Montreuil, who helmed Eva Longoria and Demián Bichir in the Blumhouse/Imagine East L.A.-set drama, Lowriders.

Rodriguez executive produces with de Montreuil, photographer/director Estevan Oriol, LA-based artist Mister Cartoon, and Michael Connolly who put the Latinx package together under his STXtelevision-based Mad Hatter Entertainment banner.

Gonzales can currently be seen as the lead in Netflix/Endeavor Content’s Blue Miracle opposite Dennis Quaid. He can next be seen on Fox Searchlight’s biopic Flamin’ Hot as Hector Morales and currently is a recurring guest star on FX’s Mayans M.C.

Other credits include AMC’s Lodge 49, AMC’s The Walking Dead, and David E. Kelley’s Mr. Mercedes.

Williams played a supporting lead in a 2021 Lifetime Movie opposite Denise Richards. Although a relative newcomer to the small screen, she’s worked with Phylicia Rashad, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Ruben Santiago Hudson at the Billie Holliday Theatre.

Exile Content & Lawrence Bender to Develop Paulina Villegas & Azam Ahmed’s ‘New York Times’ Article About Deadly Mexican Assassin into Project

Paulina Villegas’ written words will be coming to life soon…

Exile Content has partnered with producer Lawrence Bender to acquire the rights to the Latina reporter and Azam Ahmed’s New York Times article, “He Was One of Mexico’s Deadliest Assassins. Then He Turned on His Cartel.”

Paulina Villegas x Azam Ahmed’s New York Times Article

Exile and Bender are currently developing the story into a film or series with Ahmed and Caitlin Roper as producers.

Ahmed and Villegas’ article was published in December 2019. It tells the story of a man who became one of the deadliest assassins in Mexico, who eventually taken into custody via a makeshift witness protection program. He eventually fell back into the deadly trade. “This will never end, no matter what I do,” he said in the  story. “But I just won’t be a part of it anymore.”

This isn’t the first story from Ahmed to be acquired for development.

In December, Blumhouse acquired the rights to Ahmed’s New York Times article “She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One” which chronicles the story of Miriam Rodríguez, a Mexican mother who tracked down the kidnappers who abducted and murdered her daughter.

Blumhouse Wins Screen Rights to New York Times’ Story About Late Mexican Human Rights Activist Miriam Rodriguez

The late Miriam Rodriguez’s story is headed to the big screen…

Blumhouse has won the screen rights to a December 13 New York Times story which chronicled the late Mexican human rights activist and desperate mother’s revenge spree in Mexico, when she avenged her daughter’s murder by taking on the drug cartels and tracking down the perpetrators by herself.

Miriam Rodriguez

She saw 10 of them apprehended by police before she was shot and killed in front of her home on Mother’s Day, 2017.

NYT will produce with Blumhouse, and Caitlin Roper, NYT’s executive producer for scripted projects, is producing alongside the article’s writer, Azam Ahmed, and Jason Blum.

Anonymous Content represented the article in the sale process.

The story, titled She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One, ignited a heated bidding immediately after it was published December 15.

Ahmed is NYT bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. His article tells the story of the 56-year-old Rodriguez, whose whole world came crashing down on her when she lost her daughter, despite paying multiple ransom demands after the 20-year-old was kidnapped in 2014.

Getting no help from law enforcement, Rodriguez took things into her own hands. Using disguises and different identities, she went after the alleged kidnappers. She even used a gun to hold the culprits until she could get them handcuffed and arrested. Her story is juxtaposed with the plight of another family desperate for a happier outcome after their son is kidnapped.

Ahmed reported a series on the homicide crisis in Latin America, the deadliest region in the world, outlining the root causes of the violence. Each piece delved into a specific issue in a specific country, using intimate portraits of those living on the front lines of the crisis: the inescapable cycles of violence in Honduras, the scourge of femicide in Guatemala, the pervasiveness of illegally smuggled U.S. guns in Jamaica, the making of a cartel assassin in Mexico and the violence of the state in Brazil.

Last month, Azam won the Michael Kelly Award for his courageous and moving work for this series.

Azam’s reporting for this series has also been recognized this year with a Polk award, an Overseas Press Club award and the James Foley Medill Medal, which recognizes courage in pursuit of a story. Ahmed’s investigative work on corruption and the illegal use of spyware, Pegasus, helped launch federal investigations in México and led to major arrests and reform and the project was submitted by The Times for a Pulitzer Prize. Azam was previously the NYT bureau chief in Afghanistan, where he worked for nearly three years covering the war.

“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.

Ricardo de Montreuil to Co-Write & Direct the Social Thriller “Daniel”

Ricardo de Montreuil is ready to thrill…

The 46-year-old Peruvian filmmaker has signed on to direct and co-write the social thriller Daniel with first-time feature writer Owen Renfroe.

Ricardo de Montreuil

The story follows, Daniel, an unlicensed Latinx doctor who works for a dying billionaire on his private, remote estate. When he suddenly uncovers a sinister secret about his boss’s foster daughter, he must fight for the life he worked so hard to build. The film is the first social thriller to tackle head-on the plight of Latinx professionals and the struggles they endure in dealing with systemic discrimination.

Daniel explores the very real struggles that minorities and disenfranchised groups have to endure in America, at a historic time when these pressures are finally getting broadly exposed,” said de Montreuil.

Montreuil broke onto the scene when he was tapped by Blumhouse to direct the coming-of-age drama Lowriders in 2016. The film stars Demian Bichir, Eva Longoria and Gabriel Chavarria and earned strong reviews with Montreuil landing a number of jobs following its release.

He’s currently attached to direct several episodes of the new George Lopez and STXtv series Once Upon A Time In Aztlan.