STXfilms Acquires Worldwide Rights to Melissa Barrera-Starrer “Bed Rest”

Melissa Barrera’s latest project is going global…

STXfilms has acquired the worldwide rights to Bed Rest, a supernatural thriller to star the 31-year-old Mexican actress/singer and In The Heights star.

Melissa Barrera

Writer-director Lori Evans Taylor will make her directorial debut on the project.

After years of struggling to start a family, Julie Rivers (Barrera) is pregnant again and moving into a new home with her husband as they embrace a fresh start. Upon being ordered to mandatory bed rest, Julie begins to slowly unravel as she suffers through the monotony and anxiety of her new constraints. Soon, terrifying ghostly experiences in the home begin to close in on Julie, stirring up her past demons and causing others to question her mental stability. Trapped and forced to face her past and the supernatural, Julie fights to protect herself and her unborn baby.

Bed Rest is being produced by William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, and Paul Neinstein through their Project X banner, along with Evans Taylor and Barrera. Cameras roll next month in Winnipeg.

STXfilms will release Bed Rest directly in the US, UK and Ireland, and in the rest of the world through its network of foreign distribution partners.

Bed Rest is a chilling supernatural cinematic thriller,” said Adam Fogelson, chairman, STXfilms Motion Picture Group. “Lori Evans Taylor’s script was on the Black List for a reason: her compelling writing comes from a personal point of view we haven’t often seen on the big screen, and that will elevate the material. We’re also big believers in Melissa Barrera’s talent as an actress to bring this character to life. Horror has been a consistently successful genre for us at STX, and as a studio with a strong track record supporting female filmmakers, we are proud to be releasing Lori’s directorial debut. We’re also thrilled to be in business with William, James, Paul and the Team at Project X on a movie that will keep audiences riveted.”

Project X partners Sherak, Vanderbilt and Neinstein added, “We have known Lori both personally and professionally for years and have always been huge fans of her writing. This screenplay was so unnerving and deeply felt, we knew she was the right director to bring this to the screen. We had just worked with Melissa on Scream, where we saw her incredible talent first hand. We’re thrilled to have put them together, and that our longtime friends at STX will be our partners on this project. Their success with low and mid budget films and their commitment to female and diverse talent, both in front of and behind the camera, make them the ideal home for this film.”

In addition to In the Heights, and the upcoming Scream from Spyglass Media and Paramount, Barrera starred in the musical Carmen, and the Netflix series Breathe. She previously starred in the Starz series Vida and the independent film All The World Is Sleeping, which recently premiered at the New York Latino Film Festival. She was recently announced as Clinique’s new Global Ambassador.

Florencia Lozano to Appear in Netflix’s Drama Series “Breathe”

Florencia Lozano is breathe-ing easy…

The 51-year-old Latina actress, best known for portraying Téa Delgado on ABC’s daytime series One Life to Live, has landed a recurring role in Breathe, Netflix’s one-hour drama series from Blindspot creator Martin Gero and writer-executive producer Brendan Gall, and Warner Bros. Television.

Florencia Lozano

Lozano will recur alongside 40-year-old Colombian actor Juan Pablo Espinosa on the series, which stars Melissa Barrera.

In Breathe, written by Gero and Gall, when a small plane crashes in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, a lone woman (Barrera) must battle the elements and odds to survive. Barrera’s Liv is a razor-sharp Manhattan attorney who finds herself profoundly out of her comfort zone when her plane crashes and she must battle for survival.

Lozano and Espinosa will play Liv’s mother and father, respectively.

Lozano co-wrote and stars in Life After You, which was awarded Best Feature and Best Actress at the Nice International Film Festival. She will next be seen in the feature Here AfterHer previous television credits include the starring role of Claudia Messina on Netflix’s Narcos, as well as Madam Secretary, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU, among others.

Espinosa most recently starred in Focus Features’ comedy Half Brothers. His other recent credits include Apple TV’s Acapulco, Cocaine Godmother opposite Catherine Zeta Jones, and a recurring role as Luis Carlos Galán on Netflix’s Narcos. In Latin America, he’s known for his work on El Secretario, A Corazon Abierto and La Fan with NBC/Telemundo, among others.

Melissa Barrera to Star in the Netflix Survival Drama Series “Breathe”

Will Melissa Barrera make it through the wilderness?

The 30-year-old Mexican actress and singer has been cast as the lead in BreatheNetflix’s one-hour drama series from Blindspot creator Martin Gero and writer-executive producer Brendan Gall, and Warner Bros. Television.

Melissa Barrera

Barrera, who rose to acclaim in Starz’s Latinx series Vida, will portray a lone woman who must battle the elements and odds to survive after her plane crashes in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.

Barrera’s Eve is a razor-sharp Manhattan attorney who finds herself profoundly out of her comfort zone when her plane crashes and she must battle for survival.

Gero executive produces via his Quinn’s House production company, along with Gall. Warner Bros. Television is the studio.

Barrera most recently starred as co-lead Lyn in Tanya Saracho’s Vida, which aired for three seasons on Starz.

She next stars in In the Heights, the feature adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical, and also will be seen in a key role in the upcoming Scream 5.

She recently wrapped Sony Pictures Classics’ Carmen, the modern-day reimagining of the classic opera.

Dorough & The Backstreet Boys Release New Single “Breathe”

Howie Dorough and his Backstreet Boys band mates are giving their fans plenty of reason to breathe

Less than a week before they release their eighth studio album, In a World Like This, the 39-year-old half-Puerto Rican singer and his band have released the new Backstreet Boys track “Breathe,” which was inspired by one of Ryan Gosling’s recent films.

Backstreet Boys

Dorough tells Billboard that “Breathe” was written in London along with producer/writer Martin Terefe, after the group started working on In A World Like This last summer.

“A.J. [McLean] was watching the movie Drive, and the music kind of has that dark, mysterious feel to it,” recalls Dorough. “He came to me, and I had just recently seen that movie, and I loved the idea. He started off with the melody for the chorus, and then I came to him and started putting feeling into the words… It’s a great song. It’s one of those songs that’s just a love song about that one person that you meet and you can’t breathe around them.”

The Backstreet Boys eighth studio album, In a World Like This, which doubles as their first album as a quintet since 2005’s Never Gone, will be released on July 30.

The Backstreet Boys will kick off a U.S. tour on August 2 in Chicago.

Click here to listen to the new track on Billboard.com.