Natalie Morales to Star in the Dark Dramedy “My Dead Friend Zoe”

Natalie Morales is making a new (dead) friend

The 38-year-old Cuban American actress will star opposite Ed Harris and Sonequa Martin-Green in My Dead Friend Zoe, a dark dramedy about two generations of veterans, family and friendship.

Natalie MoralesKyle Hausmann-Stokes will direct the project in what will be his feature debut.

Written by Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez, the film tells the story of a female veteran (Martin-Green) engaged in a mysterious but comfortable friendship with her wise-cracking (and dead) best friend from the Army (Morales). When the vet is summoned to the remote lake house of her estranged Vietnam vet grandfather (Harris), she is tasked with providing the one thing he refuses…help.

The film is based on Merit x Zoe, a short that Hausmann-Stokes co-wrote and directed last year, and both films draw inspiration from his real-life experiences during and after the military. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Hausmann-Stokes served five years in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper and convoy commander and was awarded the Bronze Star while in Iraq. He co-founded the nonprofit Veterans in Media & Entertainment, and has focused his directing career thus far on the social and human sides of the military and veteran experience.

“My fellow veterans and I often get reduced to archetypes and melodramatic tropes. We’re much more dynamic, funny, complex than that,” said Hausmann-Stokes. “This will be a story about veterans we haven’t seen before; one that anyone, military/veteran or not, can relate to and enjoy.”

A Gotham Award nominee who’ll next be seen in the third season of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show and Sony’s R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings, Morales has previously appeared in such studio features as StuberThe Little Things and Battle of the Sexes, as well as well-regarded indies like Language Lessons and I’m Totally Fine.

She led the NBC sitcom Abby’s and has also been seen on series like Dead to MeSanta Clarita DietThe GrinderParks and Recreation and White Collar.

Other upcoming projects for the actress include two films out of SXSW 2023: the sci-fi romance If You Were the Last with Anthony Mackie, and actor Jake Johnson’s feature directorial debut, Self Reliance.

Ariana DeBose to Appear on Season Four of HBO’s “Westworld”

Ariana DeBose is heading West(world)

The 31-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress, who won an Oscar for her performance in West Side Story, has joined the cast of HBO’s Westworld as a recurring guest star for the upcoming eight-episode fourth season, which premieres on June 26 and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

Ariana DeBose,DeBose joins returning main cast members Evan Rachel Wood, Emmy winner Thandiwe Newton, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth, Aaron Paul and Angela Sarafyan.

Westworld, a dark odyssey about the fate of sentient life on Earth, was created for television by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy, who are executive producers with Alison Schapker, Denise Thé, J.J. Abrams, Athena Wickham, Richard J. Lewis and Ben Stephenson. Production companies: Kilter Films and Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television; based on the film written by Michael Crichton.

Here’s a first look at her character this season:

Ariana DeBose

Rosario Dawson to Lead Virtual Online Table Read of Holiday Classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”

Rosario Dawson is bringing the wonderful

The 42-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actress and activist will star opposite  Jason Sudeikis in an all-star virtual online table read of the holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life.

Rosario DawsonThe special event will benefit The Ed Asner Family Center (TEAFC), which promotes mental health and enrichment programs to children with special needs and their families.

The one-night-only event is set for December 5, with a cast that also includes Mark Hamill, Martin Sheen, Mandy Patinkin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Phil Lamarr, Ben Mankiewicz, Ron Funches, Ed Harris, and Sudeikis’ real-life uncle George Wendt. The Cheers actor will play Uncle Billy to Sudeikis’ George Bailey.

The Asner benefit is presented in partnership with Turner Classic Movies and sponsored by MeTV, and this year also will honor Mike Darnell, President of Unscripted and Alternative Television at Warner Bros., and his family.

The cast will include Darnell’s daughter and Social Director of TEAFC, Chelsea Darnell, autistic actors Spencer Harte and Domonique Brown along with neurodivergent TEAFC members Ryan Booth and Lucas Salusky. Victor Nelli will return to direct. Tom Bergeron hosts.

“My father’s passing has left an indescribable hole in my heart,” said Matt Asner, son of Ed Asner & Co-Founder of The Ed Asner Family Center. “For our annual fundraising gala this year, I want to honor my father’s legacy as both a legendary actor and a staunch advocate for people of all abilities.”

Tickets start at $25, with commemorative holiday gift items also available. Also planned is a silent auction and a musical intermission.

The live virtual table read begins at 5:00 pm PT on Sunday, December 5. Ticket information can be found here.

HBO to Premiere Season 3 of Rodrigo Santoro’s “Westworld” in March

Rodrigo Santorois heading West(world) this March…

HBO has set Sunday, March 15 at 9:00 pm for the release of the eight-episode third season of its Emmy-winning drama series Westworldstarring the 44-year-old Brazilian actor.

Rodrigo Santoro

In addition to Santoro, who portrays Hector Escaton, the returning cast includes

Evan Rachel Woodas Dolores, Thandie Newtonas Maeve, Ed Harris as the Man in Black, Jeffrey Wrightas Bernard, Tessa Thompsonas Charlotte, Luke Hemsworthas Stubbs and Simon Quartermanas Lee Sizemore.

New cast members this season include Aaron PaulVincent Cassel,Lena WaitheScott MescudiMarshawn LynchJohn Gallagher Jr., and Michael and Tommy Flanagan.

Created for television by Jonathan Nolanand Lisa Joy, and based on the film written by Michael Crichton, Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the birth of a new form of life on Earth.

The theme for the new season is “New World” and at Comic-Con in July, Nolan said one of the inspirations for the new season was Blade Runner, though he noted he wanted to do it differently.

Nolan said they went out in the world to find some beautiful places to shoot to capture the show’s future. “Dystopia can look pretty beautiful in the world. Just because the world is corrupt inside, doesn’t mean it can’t be smothered over and pretty. We wanted to find a version of dystopia that we hadn’t seen before,” Nolan said at Comic-Con.

The first two seasons of Westworld received a combined 42 Emmy nominations. The second season’s 20 noms resulted in three wins, including: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Newton, Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) and Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series.

Collins to Star in HBO’s Sci-Fi Western Series “Westworld”

Clifton Collins Jr. is heading West(world)

The 45-year-old Mexican and Spanish American actor has joined the cast of HBO’s series Westworld, a television adaptation of the 1973 sci-fi western film that was set in a high-tech theme park that was staffed by robots who authentically replicated Roman, cowboy and medieval times.

Clifton Collins Jr.

After the park’s computer system breaks down, the robots ran amok and guests found themselves stalked by a gunslinging robot, played by Yul Brynner.

Collins will star opposite Ed HarrisAnthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel WoodJames Marsden and Thandie Newton in the reboot of the 1973 pic.

Collins, who starred in Pacific Rim, will play Lawrence, a sly criminal who really knows his way around Westworld.

Scheduled to air in 2016, Westworld hails from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, Jonathan Nolan, writer Lisa Joy plus Warner Bros. Televison and Jerry Weintraub Productions.

Grindstone Entertainment Acquires North American Rights to Leguizamo’s “Cymbeline”

John Leguizamo’s latest project will hit U.S. theaters in the near future…

Lionsgate’s Grindstone Entertainment has acquired the North American rights to the modern-day film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, starring the 50-year-old Colombian actor/comedian.

John Leguizamo

The film, which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, centers on a battle between dirty cops and a drug dealing biker gang, set in a corruption-riddled contemporary America. Shakespeare’s play centered on the daughter of the British king Cymbeline, who discovers she has secretly married a man raised in her father’s court, resulting in his banishment from the court.

In addition to Leguizamo, the film also stars Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, Penn Badgley, Dakota Johnson and Anton Yelchin.

Cymbeline, which re-teams director Michael Almereyda with Hawke more than a decade after their collaboration on Hamlet in 2000, will be distributed in the spring.

It’s Leguizamo’s latest appearance in a film adaptation of a William Shakespeare work. He previously starred in 1996’s Baz Luhrmann-directed Romeo + Juliet, an abridged modernization of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Garcia in Talks to Star in the Sci-Fi Adventure Film “Geostorm”

It may be the calm before the (geo)storm for Andy García.

The 58-year-old Cuban actor is in talks to join Gerard Butler in the sci-fi adventure feature Geostorm, which will be directed by Dean Devlin.

Andy Garcia

The film centers on a stubborn but charming satellite designer (portrayed by Butler) who, when the world’s climate-controlling satellites malfunction, has to work together with his estranged brother to save the world from a man-made storm of epic proportions. As the designer heads into space, the brother discovers a plot to assassinate the president.

Garcia is in negotiations to take the Oval Office as the president in Geostorm.

Other actors in talks to join the film include Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish and Ed Harris.

Warner Bros. and Skydance are behind the film, which is eyeing an October shoot in New Orleans.

The script was originally written by Devlin and was also worked on by Kieran and Michele Mulroney.

Garcia is currently appearing in theaters in 20th Century Fox’s Let’s Be Cops.

Starz Gives Straight-to-Series Order to Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Series “The One Percent”

A starz is born… And, his name is Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu.

Starz has given a straight-to-series order to The One Percent, an hourlong project from the 50-year-old filmmaker and MRC.

Alejandro González Iñárritu

Gonzalez Iñárritu’s project has Ed Helms set to star, with Hilary Swank and Ed Harris poised to co-star. The order is for 10 episodes.

MRC developed The One Percent internally and attached Helms, Swank and Harris before recently taking the project out to cable networks, garnering multiple offers.

The One Percent follows a downtrodden farmer (Helms) as he struggles to hold onto his family and his farm, when a bizarre twist of fate becomes a life-changing secret that will either save them or ruin them.

Helms will play the lead role of Alfred Murphy, who is struggling professionally and personally to keep the family business afloat.

Swank is in final negotiations to play his wife, Laura Murphy.

Harris will play the family patriarch, Nathaniel Cobb. He will reportedly appear on The One Percent in a guest starring capacity.

The One Percent was created and written by Gonzalez Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo. The quartet, who recently collaborated on Birdman, will serve as executive producers.

Gonzalez Iñárritu will direct the first two episodes and set the visual style of the show. The series reunites MRC and Gonzalez Iñárritu, who worked together on the Best Picture Oscar-nominated film Babel.

Trailer Released for Disney’s “Planes: Fire & Rescue,” Featuring Erik Estrada

The sky’s the limit for Erik Estrada

Disney has released the trailer for Planes: Fire & Rescue, which finds the 65-year-old Puerto Rican actor lending his voice to one of the animated film’s characters.

Planes: Fires & Rescue

Estrada, best known for starring in the television series CHiPs, voices the character of as Nick “Loop’n” Lopez, a helicopter police officer.

The sequel to last year’s Planes, which made nearly $220 million worldwide, sees the return of world famous air racer Dusty Crophopper (voiced by Dane Cook). After learning that his engine is damaged and he may never be able to race again, Dusty must shift gears and is launched into the world of wildfire air attack.

Dusty joins forces with veteran fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger (voice of Ed Harris) and his courageous air attack team, including spirited super scooper Lil’ Dipper (voice of Julie Bowen), heavy-lift helicopter Windlifter (voice of Wes Studi), ex-military transport Cabbie (voice of Dale Dye) and a lively bunch of brave all-terrain vehicles known as The Smokejumpers. Together, the fearless team battles a massive wildfire, and Dusty learns what it takes to become a true hero.

In addition to Estrada, the film also features the voice of Danny Pardo.The Argentine actor voices the character of Blackout.

Planes: Fire & Rescue will hit theatres in the U.S. on  July 18.

Magnolia Pictures Acquires U.S./Canada Rights to Longoria’s “Frontera”

Eva Longoria’s latest project will be released in the United States and Canada…

Magnolia Pictures has acquired the U.S. and Canada rights to Frontera, starring the 38-year-old Mexican American actress, Michael Peña and Ed Harris.

Eva Longoria

Directed by Michael Berry from his script with Luis Moulinet III, the drama follows Miguel (Peña), a hardworking father and devoted husband who crosses the border illegally and is wrongfully accused of murdering the wife of a former sheriff (Harris). Miguel’s pregnant wife (Longoria) lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes as she tries to help her husband, while the ex-lawman investigates his wife’s death and unearths evidence that could destroy one family’s future.

Magnolia is reportedly planning for a 2014 theatrical release.

The deal was sealed in Los Cabos, Mexico, during the second annual Baja International Film Festival.