Justina Machado to Star in Netflix’s First Original Medical Procedural “Pulse”

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Justina Machado’s pulse is on the rise…

The 51-year-old Puerto Rican actress has been cast as the first series regular on Pulse, Netflix’s first medical procedural original.

Hailing from first-time creator Zoe Robyn, who serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside veteran.

The show’s first two episodes will be directed and executive produced by Kate Dennis.

Pulse will feature a mix of medical cases and office romances. In it, while the staff of Miami’s busiest Level 1 Trauma Center navigate medical emergencies, young ER doc Dani Simms is unexpectedly promoted to Chief Resident amidst the fallout of her own provocative romantic relationship.

Machado plays Natalie Cruz, a brilliant and politically-savvy doctor, who oversees both administration and medicine in her role as the Chair of Surgery and Emergency Medicine.

Bradley Gardner, Emma Forman and Michael Klick also executive produce the series, which is slated to begin production in March in Albuquerque.

The greenlight for Pulse comes after Robyn and Cuse worked with a writers room last year to craft scripts.

Machado recently starred in the Amazon/Blumhouse series The Horror Of Dolores Roach based on the popular Spotify podcast of the same name.

She previously headlined Netflix/Pop’s acclaimed One Day At a Time reboot and recently guest starred on NBC’s Lopez vs. Lopez.

Machado will next star in the independent feature The Throwback from director Mario Garcia.

Jaume Collet-Serra to Direct Blumhouse’s “The Woman in the Yard”

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Jaume Collet-Serra is hitting the yard…

The 49-year-old Spanish film director and producer and Black Adam filmmaker will direct Blumhouse’s The Woman in the Yard, starring and executive-produced by Danielle Deadwyler.

The project reteams Collet-Serra and Deadwyler, who recently collaborated on the Netflix thriller film, Carry On.

The film, which has a plot line under wraps, is set for theatrical release on January 10, 2025.

“I’ve been trying to find the right project to work on with Jaume, in our system, for over a decade. The Woman in the Yard is the perfect match, a film that’s ambitious in scope but modest in budget that combines Jaume’s vision with the incomparable Danielle Deadwyler. Together with my friend Stephanie Allain, this is a real dream team and I’m excited to collaborate with them on the film,” said Blumhouse boss Jason Blum.

The Woman in the Yard is written by Sam Stefanak. Blum and Allain are producers on the film. Collet-Serra, Deadwyler, Gabrielle Ebron, Scott Greenberg and James Moran are EPs. Haley Pigman and Jungyoon Kim are the executives covering the film for Blumhouse.

The Woman in the Yard is a Blumhouse production for Universal.

Collet-Serra’s other credits include House of Wax, Orphan and The Shallows, as well as the Liam Neeson-led thriller films Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter.

Miguel Cazarez Mora to Star in “The Black Phone” Sequel

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Miguel CazaMora has answered the call…

The Mexican American actor will star in the Black Phone 2, the sequel to the hit 2022 Blumhouse–Crooked Highway Production–Universal horror film. A theatrical release is set for June 27, 2025.

In addition to Mora, who in his Hollywood debut starred as Robin in The Black Phone, will be joined by Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw and Jeremy Davies are set to return.

The first film, directed by Scott Derrickson and co-written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill racked up over $161M worldwide, becoming a sleeper hit in a rebounding summer last year from the Covid-19 pandemic. The film also made Deadline’s list of most profitable movies last year with an estimated net of $68M.

The duo are back penning Black Phone 2 and are producing with Blumhouse’s Jason Blum.

In the first movie, a 13-year old boy, who is abducted by a child killer in a suburban neighborhood and locked in a soundproof basement, begins to receive calls on a disconnected phone from the killer’s previous victims. Derrickson and frequent collaborator Cargill adapted from Joe Hill’s short story. Hill is an executive producer on the sequel.

Black Phone received high marks on Rotten Tomatoes with an 81% certified fresh critics score and 88% with audiences.

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

Posted on April 21, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

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.

The 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

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Raúl Martínez has new representation…

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

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 Pantelion; The 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”

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

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.

Edda 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”

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

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.

The 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 South, Jane the Virgin and Six Feet Under, among many others.

Her additional film credits include All Together Now, The Purge: Anarchy, The Call and The Accidental Husband.

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

Posted on March 19, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

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.

The 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”

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

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.

They join previously announced cast Lopez, Jesse 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

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

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.”

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.

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