Lila Avilés Among Storytellers Immortalized with Barbie Doll in Their Likeness for International Women’s Day

Lila Avilés is getting all dolled up…

The 42-year-old Mexican film director, screenwriter, actress and producer, whose meteoric rise on the international stage after just two feature films that have both represented Mexico at the Oscars, is among eight women storytellers selected by Mattel to be immortalized with Barbie dolls in their likeness.

Lila Avilés, BarbieAvilés joins Academy Award-winning actors Helen Mirren and Viola Davis along with country-pop artist Shania Twain, Australia’s Kylie Minogue, German comedian Enissa Amani, Japanese model Nicole Fujita and Brazilian Indigenous influencer Maira Gomez who have been selected as Barbie role models in honor of International Women’s Day.

Their dolls will be one of a kind and not for sale.

Said Mattel in a statement: “Since the brand’s inception, Barbie has helped girls explore their limitless potential through different roles and narratives – from encouraging self-expression through dress-up to playing out any of her 250+ careers. With Barbie by their sides, countless children have been able to imagine their own stories through play that help shape their real-life futures.”

“The brand is sharing countless stories of empowerment and bringing her legendary legacy to life through the eyes and words of fans everywhere, starting with some of the most renowned storytellers out there,” it continued.

Given the phenomenal box office and critical success of Greta Gerwig’s multi-Oscar nominated movie, Barbie, the company chose the storytelling theme for this year.

Last year’s theme was STEM, which covered women in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. That year, Engineer Katya Echazarreta, the first Mexican-born woman in space, was among the few to be chosen for a Barbie doll to be made in her likeness.

Lila Avilés, BarbieDescribing her selection as an “incredible, beautiful and surreal surprise,” Avilés expressed her delight at the recognition. “It’s not only me but my career that is being honored,” she told Variety.

The figurine portrays her with a camera on her shoulder, a script in one hand and her beloved cat by her feet.

Her latest film, Totem, which landed on the long list for the Oscar’s Best International Feature category, has played in more than 100 film festivals and will be rolling out theatrically across 40+ countries, including the U.S. where it’s still out. It’s slated to play on the Criterion Channel and just became available on Netflix Latin America.

“People ask me if my movies are feminist. In as much as my protagonists are women, they are, in an organic way,” she said.  The Chambermaid, my feature debut, gave voice to a woman who’s ostensibly invisible to many,” she noted. “Totem delves into childhood and the idea that childhood is destiny,” she added, recalling the times when she and her brother played with each other’s toys, including her Barbie dolls.

This doll is hers to keep. Fortunately, her daughter is already in her teens so may not be clamoring to play with it.

Fred Armisen Earns Two Peabody Award Nominations

Fred Armisen is celebrating two special award nominations…

The full list of nominations for the 83rd annual Peabody Awards have been revealed, with the 56-year-old half-Venezuelan American actor, television creator and comedian earning two nods.

Fred ArmisenArmisen’s IFC series Documentary Now!, which Armisen co-created with Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Rhys Thomas earned a nod. The series offers some comic relief in our documentary-saturated times, parodying the form with insightful sendups of Grizzly ManThe September IssueMy Octopus Teacher and more, with every episode hosted by Helen Mirren.

Meanwhile, Armisen’s Los Espookys, which he co-created with Julio Torres and Ana Fabrega, also earned a nod. 

A primarily Spanish-language comedy (with English subtitles), the series centers on eccentric friends who turn their passion for horror into a peculiar business—scaring people for a fee— in a series that weaves together elements of magical realism and the absurd to create a comedy like no other.

The Peabodys are honoring 2022’s most compelling and empowering stories across broadcasting and streaming media.

The group this year nominated a total of 69 TV, podcast/radio and web/digital programs in the categories of entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth, public service and interactive programming.

Winners will be announced May 9, with a ceremony to take place June 11 at the Beverly Wilshire, the Peabodys’ first in Los Angeles.

Here’s the full list of this year’s nominees:

ENTERTAINMENT

Abbott Elementary
A group of passionate Philadelphia public school teachers battle budget restrictions, a rival charter school, and their own (mostly) incompetent principal, forging friendships and an occasional love match in this sweet mockumentary sitcom from creator and star Quinta Brunson.

Delicious Non-Sequitur Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television and 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios (ABC)

Andor
The Star Wars franchise gets a new perspective, focusing on thief-turned-Rebel spy Cassian Andor’s journey to discover the difference he can make. Taking place during a time before the first Star Wars film when a Rebel Alliance is forming in opposition to the fascist Galactic Empire, the series explores themes of Fascism and how resistance movements emerge from the strangling weight of authoritarian repression.

Atlanta
Creator-star Donald Glover finishes his four-season masterpiece about a group of friends that includes rapper Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles and his manager cousin, “Earn” Marks, along with their friends Darius and Van. The final two seasons are particularly inventive as the characters find themselves in new situations and consider their relationships to each other and their hometown.

Bad Sisters
A delicious blend of dark comedy and thriller from creators Sharon Horgan, Brett Baer, and Dave Finkel, Bad Sisters follows the lives of the Garvey sisters, who are bound together by the premature death of their parents and a promise to always protect each other.

Better Call Saul
This Breaking Bad prequel is much more than the sum of its parts, and that’s evident in its capstone season, which concludes the complicated journey and transformation of its compromised hero, Jimmy McGill, played perfectly by Bob Odenkirk, into criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.

Bob’s Burgers
This long-running, witty animated series is gentle and full of heart. Over its thirteen years on the air, Bob’s Burgers has quietly depicted a truly progressive vision of a working class family, giving us both realistic and aspirational portraits of parenting life, teenage life, and queer life, as well as lessons of acceptance and resiliency.

Documentary Now!
Created by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Rhys Thomas, Documentary Now! offers some comic relief in our documentary-saturated times, parodying the form with insightful sendups of Grizzly ManThe September IssueMy Octopus Teacher, and more, with every episode hosted by none other than Helen Mirren.

Los Espookys
Eccentric friends turn their passion for horror into a peculiar business—scaring people for a fee— in this bilingual series that weaves together elements of magical realism and the absurd to create a comedy like no other.

Mo
The title character toggles among two cultures, three languages, and a pending asylum request while hustling to support his Palestinian family in Houston, Texas, in this dramedy co-created by star Mo Amer, based on his own life, and Ramy Youssef.

Our Flag Means Death
This is, indeed, a historical queer pirate rom-com. The series follows Stede Bonnet, a Barbadian aristocrat played by Rhys Darby, as he leaves his life behind to become a pirate, leads a crew, and falls in love with the notorious Blackbeard (Taika Waititi).

Pachinko
A sweeping American drama series based on Min Jin Lee’s 2017 novel, Pachinko starts with an intimate story about forbidden love but widens out to include epic journeys among America, Japan, and Korea, encompassing no less than war and peace, love and loss, and triumph and reckoning.

Reservation Dogs
The Reservation Dogs teens continue to pursue their California dreams while struggling to mend their relationships with each other and facing down more grown-up problems, from dying loved ones to making a living, in the masterful second season of TV’s first all-Indigenous series.

Severance
This bold, topical sci-fi thriller series stars Adam Scott as Mark Scout, an employee at Lumon Industries, where employees have undergone a “severance” procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. But he soon discovers a darker conspiracy behind this cutting-edge experiment.

Somebody Somewhere
Bridget Everett created and stars in this quiet gem of a dramedy, which follows her character Sam through small-town Kansas life as she grieves her sister’s death and works a soul-deadening job, but also finds salvation in a new friendship with a fellow outcast, in the music they make together and in the community they find.

Sort Of
This poignant comedy about nonbinary millennial Sabi, created by and starring Bilal Baig, turns in a second season that deepens relationships, widens Sabi’s world, and continues to deftly balance humor and pathos.

The Patient
From The Americans producer Joel Fields and creator Joe Weisberg comes this psychological thriller about a therapist (Steve Carell) held prisoner by his patient (Domhnall Gleeson), who reveals himself as a serial killer with a sincere desire to get better. Taut writing highlights the tense relationship between the two as themes of mental illness, personal responsibility, and religious morality are explored.

We’re Here
In this uplifting and timely reality series, three drag queens spread love and connection across small-town America through the art of drag, putting on shows with local drag enthusiasts, queer people, and allies, and changing lives along the way.

ARTS

Fire of Love
Miranda July narrates this dramatic documentary about the doomed relationship between obsessive French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft and their shared passion for capturing spectacular imagery of stunning—and deadly—volcanoes.

DOCUMENTARY

Aftershock
After the deaths of two young women from childbirth complications, their families galvanize activists, birth workers, and physicians to face America’s grave maternal health crisis in this eye-opening film.

Batata
This unprecedented film spans ten years in the life of Syrian migrant worker Maria, a Muslim woman, and her journey from days of farming potatoes to life in a refugee camp in Lebanon, demonstrating the spirit of a woman who puts family above all else.

Children of the Taliban
In this affecting documentary, viewers meet four children—two boys and two girls—living in Kabul, Afghanistan, and learn how dramatically their lives have changed since U.S. troops withdrew from the country and the Taliban came to power. While the girls face the obvious serious difficulties under the patriarchal regime, some of the most chilling footage shows how young boys are radicalized.

The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone
This short documentary spans most of the 22-year life of Georgie Stone, a young Australian trans activist, revealing her memories as she grows up, affirms her gender, finds her voice, fights to change laws and public perception, and becomes a role model for other trans kids throughout the world.

George Carlin’s American Dream
This two-part documentary from Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio illustrates how legendary comedian George Carlin evolved from late-night-standup hack to a wordsmith, a countercultural hero, and, ultimately, a truth-teller who used dark humor to illuminate key issues of our time like sexual assault and climate change. Archival footage of Carlin himself, as well as extraordinary access to his diaries and letters, helps to paint a complete portrait of a man who wouldn’t settle for anything less than expressing his authentic voice.

Independent Lens: Missing in Brooks County
Migrants go missing in the rural area of Brooks County, Texas, more than anywhere else in the United States, and activist Eddie Canales is the one who helps their families find them. PBS’ documentary profiles Canales in this subtle, specific, and alarming take on U.S. immigration.

Independent Lens: Writing with Fire
Fearless journalists staff India’s only all-female newspaper in an intensely patriarchal landscape, painting a portrait of courage and hope. Filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh spent four years in India’s Uttar Pradesh state capturing the women’s daily work lives as well as the larger context in which they operate: India’s caste system and its far-right religious movement.

Lucy and Desi
Director Amy Poehler explores the surprising story of how Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, a woman and a Cuban man, became TV’s most powerful couple in the 1950s, transformed numerous aspects of television production, and pioneered the American sitcom as we know it.

Mariupol: The People’s Story
This terrifyingly crucial feature-length documentary tells the story of the essential coastal Ukrainian city of Mariupol through those who lived there as it was destroyed by Russia.

POV: Let the Little Light Shine
This captivating documentary tells the story of a South Side Chicago neighborhood where a high-performing, largely Black elementary school is threatened by the forces of gentrification—a story that reflects larger struggles with the historical impacts of institutional racism and the ways demographic shifts affect education.

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was more than an “old” lady who was too tired to go to the back of the bus, as this documentary demonstrates, delving deep into the Civil Rights icon’s historic role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott beyond her traditionally assigned role in school textbooks.

The Territory
This immersive, awe-inspiring documentary looks at the tireless fight of the Amazon’s Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people against the encroaching deforestation brought by farmers and illegal settlers.

We Need To Talk About Cosby
Writer/director W. Kamau Bell weighs the life and legacy of Bill Cosby as a peerless groundbreaker and dominant cultural force against his crimes as a convicted sexual predator through difficult and candid conversations with comedians, journalists, and survivors in a potent examination of problematic artist versus art.

NEWS

60 Minutes: The Declining Mental Health of America’s Kids
This 60 Minutes report delves into the mental health crisis striking kids across America and explores its root causes: the isolation and fear of the pandemic and the addiction and toxicity of social media.

ABC News Digital: Buffalo: Healing From Hate
Through four in-depth video profiles, ABC News Digital tells the personal stories of those killed in the mass shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, spending time with their families to paint tender and detailed portraits of those lost and making sure their lives and legacies are not forgotten after the onslaught of news coverage.

Frontline: Crime Scene Bucha
FRONTLINE, The Associated Press, and SITU Research teamed up on an exclusive visual investigation into Russian war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha during a month-long occupation, drawing on hundreds of hours of closed-circuit television footage, intercepted phone calls, and a 3-D model of the town to map the deaths of 450 people in the soldiers’ “cleansing” operations.

Frontline: Michael Flynn’s Holy War
Truly terrifying in its implications, this FRONTLINE episode asks how Michael Flynn went from being an elite soldier overseas to waging a “spiritual war” in America, emerging as a leader in a far-right movement that puts its brand of Christianity at the center of U.S. civic life and institutions, attracting election deniers, conspiracists, and extremists around the country.

Frontline: Putin’s War at Home
This report takes a deep, documentary approach to profiling the defiant Russians risking imprisonment as they push back against President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on criticism of his war on Ukraine, with extraordinary footage from inside the country.

Frontline: Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack
FRONTLINE provides a dramatic and intimate look inside the Russian assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, following the displaced families trying to survive underground, civilians caught in the war, and first responders risking their lives.

The Gap: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect
A year-long investigation by local Minneapolis-St. Paul’s KARE 11, revealed systemic failures to treat people with mental illness who were declared incompetent in court and resulted in state-wide reforms that were deemed lifesaving by the mental health community and lawmakers.

Guns in America
Faced with repeatedly reporting on the endless cycle of mass shootings across America, PBS NewsHour raised the bar, providing context while also telling empathetic stories across different segments throughout the year dealing with victims, survivors, and their communities in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.

Inside An Armed Bank Raid in Lebanon
In a gripping piece that illuminates complex issues, VICE News reports from inside an armed bank raid for 16 hours in Lebanon as desperate bank customers demand their own savings despite the country’s limits on how much people can withdraw from their accounts amidst a crushing economic crisis.

Myanmar: The Forgotten Revolution
A team of courageous filmmakers spent more than a year inside the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, bringing viewers inside a largely ignored and forgotten civil war in which more than 20,000 people have been reported dead and thousands are fighting a military coup that removed their elected government.

No Justice for Women in the Taliban’s Afghanistan
Women’s lives drastically changed after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in August 2021. VICE takes viewers inside a justice system tipped against women facing physical and sexual abuse and the underground shelters where women turn to escape violence at home for a devastating look at the country’s inequality.

One Day in Hebron
American Al Jazeera host Dena Takuri returns to Hebron, the once-vibrant Palestinian city where her father was born and raised to see what Israel’s military occupation has done to his hometown: segregated streets, traumatized residents, shuttered businesses, and the remaining Palestinians erecting nets to catch the trash thrown at them by settlers.

The Price of Care: Taken by the State
This local news investigation from ABC10-KXTV in Sacramento uncovered how the California Department of Developmental Services gained conservatorship powers over hundreds of adults with disabilities, only to separate them from their families and neglect them in care facilities. The reporting resulted in changes to California’s conservatorship laws, adding protections and additional funding to enact them.

Shimon Prokupecz: Unraveling Uvalde
After the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012, the CNN team led by Shimon Prokupecz relentlessly pursued the glaring, unanswered questions about the law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas school shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers. A gut-wrenching interview with one surviving teacher underscores the horrific question, “Why didn’t anyone help sooner?”

CHILDREN’S & YOUTH

El Deafo
El Deafo uses unique sound design to take viewers inside the experience of a young girl named Cece (voiced by Lexi Finigan, who is also deaf) as she loses her hearing and finds her inner superhero in this animated series based on the graphic novel by Cece Bell.

N*Gen: Next Generation Television
Africa’s first science TV show for kids was filmed across Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, and Uganda with the goals of promoting girls and women in STEM, increasing trust in science, boosting knowledge about climate and health, and giving people critical thinking tools to fight misinformation.

PODCAST/RADIO

Kabul Falling
Afghans themselves tell the story of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August of 2021 in this eight-part series.  Released one year after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the podcast documents the shockwaves that reverberated throughout the country as thousands of Afghans were forced to leave their lives behind for a hellish journey to survive.

Nine days in a Michigan abortion clinic, as election looms
As Michigan voters were about to decide whether to codify abortion and broad reproductive rights in the state constitution, Michigan Radio illuminated what was at stake. With a rare degree of access to the Northland Family Planning clinic, reporter Kate Wells guided listeners through every step of the abortion process and its emotional complexity.

Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong
Host Emily Hanford investigates a widespread method of teaching kids to read that was proven ineffective by scientists decades ago, but continues to hold sway over schools across the country because of the influential authors who promote it and the company that sells their work.

Still Newtown
A portrait of a community coming together after unspeakable tragedy, this 11-episode podcast chronicles Newtown, Connecticut, twenty years after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting left 20 children and 6 adults dead. From dealing with the overwhelming outpouring of stuff sent their way—letters, stuffed animals, donated clothing—to building a permanent memorial, Still Newtown shows us what happens, in touching everyday detail, after the news trucks go home.

Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s
Investigative journalist Connie Walker delves into her own family history and uncovers the trauma passed down through generations as part of one of Canada’s darkest chapters, the residential school system for indigenous children, showing the ways that personal secrets and national shame reinforce one another.

Stories of the Stalked
Artist, filmmaker, and dancer Lily Baldwin hosts this six-part podcast in which she takes a true-crime approach to her own experience with being stalked, showing the terror of being relentlessly pursued by someone who claims to love you, the difficulty of reporting it to police, and the uncertainty of knowing when the ordeal is really over.

The Divided Dial
On the Media presents this thorough five-part series about how one side of the political spectrum came to dominate talk radio, and how one company, Salem Media Group, is launching a right-wing media empire.

The Wealth Vortex
The second season of the podcast The Heist, “The Wealth Vortex” follows entrepreneur ReShonda Young’s efforts to address America’s longstanding racial wealth gap by opening the first Black-owned bank in the country in 20 years—and the many obstacles she faces along the way.

This American Life: The Pink House at the Center of the World
On the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, public radio’s seminal storytelling program had exclusive access inside the clinic at the center of the legal case, Mississippi’s last abortion clinic, showing what happened as patients and staff received the news.

INTERACTIVE & IMMERSIVE

ContraPoints
Through her YouTube channel, ContraPoints, Natalie Wynn defies the reductive quality that rules most of the internet, developing a following of more than 1 million subscribers by producing long, beautifully produced video essays that dissect trending topics and social phenomena. From “Canceling” to “Cringe,” “Incels” to J.K. Rowling, Wynn explores all sides of an argument, treating different perspectives with equal parts seriousness and shade.

Coronavirus in the Classroom
As schools weighed how to reopen safely during the pandemic, The New York Times worked with engineering experts to visualize the flow of air inside a New York City classroom, designing an augmented reality experience to show how improved ventilation could help reduce exposure to coronavirus.

Life is Strange: True Colors
“Life Is Strange: True Colors” is a game that follows a 21-year-old, bisexual Asian-American woman, Alex Chen, who has spent the last eight years in foster care and is investigating her brother’s death. Largely about grief and trauma, the game is also joyful, affirming the true importance of empathy through Alex’s supernatural ability to sense and manipulate others’ emotions.

Lucy and the Wolves in the Walls
Through the endearing and earnest narrative of Lucy and her quest to find the source of mysterious happenings in her house, this wonderful interactive VR fable based on the book by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, which continues in Lucy’s extended life across platforms, invites us along to explore the fine line between imagination and reality and reminds us of that liminal space of possibility that we occupy as children.

Motto
This interactive novella designed for mobile uses thousands of tiny videos to tell the thousand-year tale of a kindhearted spirit named September, resulting in an experience that’s part ghost story, part scavenger hunt.

Reeducated
China’s systemic detention of Uyghurs and other minorities is well-documented, but there exists no photographic evidence from inside the camps, which limits journalistic coverage. This New Yorker VR project combines the testimony of three brave survivors, hand-drawn illustration, and immersive video technology, showing the conditions inside prison cells, classrooms, torture rooms, and a makeshift operating room, and illuminating the atrocities of harrowing life.

The Uncensored Library
Meticulous and artistically-rendered, this Minecraft build serves as a monument to press freedom and an innovative back door for censored content. Because Minecraft is often freely accessible in countries where other media is blocked, more than 20 million gamers in 165 countries have been able to access information about threats to press freedom in their own countries as well as censored articles from independent journalists from oppressive countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, Egypt, and Vietnam.

Un(re)solved
Drawing on more than two years of reporting, thousands of documents, and dozens of first-hand interviews, this FRONTLINE multiplatform investigation of lives cut short examines a federal effort to grapple with America’s legacy of racist killings through the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.

Unpacking
This zen puzzle game transforms the mundane experience of unpacking items out of boxes after a move into an extraordinary storytelling device, allowing the player to get to know the main character at an intensely intimate and personal level without ever seeing her over 21 years of her life and eight different moves.

PUBLIC SERVICE

Frontline: American Reckoning
A powerful and compelling examination of America’s ongoing struggle with systemic racism and social injustice through the lens of an unsolved 1960s murder reveals an untold chapter in the Civil Rights Movement. With rarely seen footage from more than 50 years ago, the program illuminates the urgent need for meaningful change and reckoning with our nation’s past while highlighting one family’s search for justice.

Frontline: Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes
Exclusive and harrowing evidence of war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine’s Kyiv suburbs, unearthed by FRONTLINE and The Associated Press, can be traced up the chain of command to one of Russia’s top generals—and might help build a case against Russian President Vladimir Putin in court.

“FRONTLINE: The Power of Big Oil”

The fossil fuel industry has sowed doubt about climate change in America and stalled climate policy, even as scientific evidence grows more certain, all as part of a concerted effort, as documented by this three-part series.

“Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March”

This hour-long documentary reveals how, in the aftermath of the 2021 spa killings of 6 women of Asian descent, the Asian American community in Atlanta came together to fight back and to contend with a racial reckoning in the courts, in the voting booth, and in the streets.

Rachel Zegler to Star in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”

It’s (hunger) game on for Rachel Zegler

The 21-year-old half-Colombian American Golden Globe-winning actress/singer and West Side Story star has joined the cast of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the highly anticipated prequel to Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games

Rachel Zegler,Zegler is joining the Francis Lawrence-directed film in the lead female role of Lucy Gray Baird.

She joins recently announced Tom Blyth, who’s playing the young Coriolanus Snow, that role made famous by Donald Sutherland in the original trilogy.

Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.

“When you read Suzanne’s book, Lucy Gray’s emotional intelligence, physical agility, and fiercely powerful, determined singing voice shine through. Rachel embodies all of those skills – she is the perfect choice for our Lucy Gray,” said Nathan Kahane, president, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.

“Like everybody, I first saw Rachel Zegler in West Side Story, and like everybody, I knew I was watching a star who would command the screen for a generation,” said Lawrence. “Lucy Gray is a perfect match for her as an actress: the character is bold, independent, and defiant, but also vulnerable, emotional, and loving. Rachel will make this character unforgettable.”

“Lucy Gray is an incredibly complex character, a performer who has to use every skill in her arsenal to survive. Our casting team, Deb Zane and Dylan Jury, spearheaded an exhaustive search, reading hundreds of actors in search of our perfect Lucy Gray. That search ended when Rachel Zegler blew the roof off with her depth and breadth of talent as an actor, singer, and performer. Rachel is utterly compelling; just like Lucy Gray, her voice and charisma command the stage while her inner strength and humanity transform those around her,” said Hunger Games producer Nina Jacobson.

Lionsgate recently announced that the prequel will hit theaters around the world on November 17, 2023.

The entire Hunger Games franchise has grossed more $3 billion worldwide.

Lawrence previously helmed The Hunger Games films Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part One, and Mockingjay Part Two. Jacobson is producing with her partner Brad Simpson, along with Lawrence. Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins, Tim Palen, and Jim Miller will serve as executive producers.

The latest draft of the screenplay is by Michael Lesslie, who is building on the work of Collins and Michael Arndt. The screenplay is based on Collins’ bestselling novel.

Zegler was lauded with Best Actress wins from the National Board of Review and the Golden Globes for her turn as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. She is next set to appear in DC Comics’ Shazam! Fury of the Gods alongside Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren, and Lucy Liu, which debuts in December.

She is currently filming the title role in Disney’s live action Snow White, directed by Marc Webb.

Rachel Zegler to Voice Lead Role in Apple Original Films & Skydance Animation’s Animated Musical “Spellbound”

Rachel Zegler is preparing for the royal treatment…

The 20-year-old half-Colombian American Golden Globe-winning actress and singer will voice the character of Princess Ellian, the lead role in Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation’s new animated musical feature Spellbound.

Rachel Zegler,Ellian is a tenacious princess who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents into monsters and threatens to cover Lumbria in darkness forever.

Vicky Jenson is directing the film with Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin and Linda Woolverton penning the script.

The original score for the film hails from Academy Award-winner Alan Menken, with lyrics by Glenn Slater.

Chris Montan serves as executive music producer.

Zegler has had a great year following her award-winning breakout role as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. The film played a big part in her landing the role as the titular character in Disney’s new Snow White filmwhich is currently in production.

She’ll next be seen alongside Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu in D.C. Comics’ Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Universal Announces Plans to End Michelle Rodriguez’s Fast & Furious Franchise with Two Final Films

It’s the beginning of the end for Michelle Rodriguez.

Universal Pictures is planning to wrap up its Fast & Furious core film franchise, starring the 42-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress, with two final movies that will bring to a close a franchise.

Michelle Rodriguez The Limit

The Fast & Furious films have revved their way to become the highest-grossing movie series in the studio’s history. Justin Lin, who’s in post-production on F9, is in talks to direct the final two installments and bring a saga that began nearly 20 years ago to a close.

It’s early days on when this will begin production but it seems likely they will tell a big story over two films that will focus on franchise patriarch Vin Diesel and bring back Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel and Sung Kang.

F9 — which is the fifth film in the franchise directed by Lin and which premieres next Memorial Day — continues the storyline of the core cast and Charlize Theron, and adds John Cena, Helen Mirren, Grammy-winner Cardi B and reggaeton star Ozuna. They are just beginning to put the final two vehicles together. There’s speculation that Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham — core cast members who peeled off for the F&F spinoff Hobbs & Shaw after Johnson and Diesel had a falling out — will be back for the finale.

There’s also an opportunity to pull off the motorhead’s answer to Marvel’s Avengers, a configuration that might include Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot, also part of the ensemble earlier in her career.

It might not have seemed probable back when The Fast & Furious launched the franchise in 2001 with Diesel and Paul Walker as lead-footed protagonists, but the entire series has eclipsed Jurassic Park to become Universal’s biggest. The eight movies and the spinoff have grossed around $5.7 billion; Jurassic is also over $5 billion and has its next installment, Jurassic World: Dominion, shooting in London.

The Fast franchise survived the tragic death of cornerstone star Walker, but it’s always good to end the race before the vehicle runs out of gas. There are still plans for other movie spinoffs and TV shows, so there will be no call for the studio to be calling Kars for Kids to cart away a junker.

It is likely that the final two installments will be produced by Diesel through his One Race Films banner, Jeff Kirschenbaum, Lin, Neal Moritz, Joe Roth, Clayton Townsend and Samantha Vincent. They are the producers of F9.

Lin berthed his Perfect Storm Entertainment banner at Universal in a multi-year overall film and TV deal in late summer, and these two films will likely keep him busy for a long time.

Universal Moves Release Date of Michelle Rodriguez’s “F9” to Memorial Day 2021

Michelle Rodriguez is getting some push back…

Universal Pictures has announced plans to move F9, starring the 42-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress, to May 28, 2021, which is Memorial Day weekend.

Michelle Rodriguez F9

The move comes after MGM moved its James Bond pic No Time to Die, starring Ana de Armas, to April 2, 2021 — which had been the release date for this latest installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise.

In March, F9 drove out of its original May 22, 2020 global day-and-date release amid the coronavirus lockdown. The studio had previously reserved that April 2021 date for Fast & Furious 10.

Justin Lin returns to direct F9 a cast that includes Rodriguez, who portrays Letty Ortiz, Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Cardi B and Ozuna.

The entire franchise, including spinoff Hobbs & Shaw, through nine movies counts $5.9 billion at the worldwide box office.

Antonio Banderas to Receive International Star Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival

Antonio Banderas is a shining star… 

The 59-year-old Spanish actor will receive the 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival’s International Star Award, Actor for his performance in Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory

Antonio Banderas

“Throughout his career Antonio Banderas has garnered international acclaim and world recognition from his memorable performances,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In his latest film Pain and Glory, Antonio Banderas gives another deeply moving performance as aging film director Salvador Mallo going through a creative crisis as he reflects on the choice’s he’s made throughout his life.”

Past recipients of the International Star Award include Javier BardemNicole KidmanHelen Mirren, Gary Oldman and Saoirse Ronan

Banderas, who recently earned a Goya Award nomination for his performance in Pain and Glory, will join the previously announced honorees Jennifer Lopez (Spotlight Award), Joaquin Phoenix (Chairman’s Award), Martin Scorsese Sonny Bono Visionary Award), Charlize Theron( International Star Award, Actress) and Renée Zellweger(Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress).

From Sony Picture Classicsand presented by El DeseoPain and Glory tells of a series of reencounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered.

The award will be presented at the festival’s Film Awards Galaon Thursday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

The festival runs January 2-13, 2020.

Banderas’ next project is Dolittle

Diego Luna to Star in the Anthology Film “Berlin, I Love You”

Diego Luna is spreading a little Liebe to Germany…

The 37-year-old Mexican actor, producer and director will star in the anthology film Berlin, I Love You, the latest feature in the Cities of Love series launched by Emmanuel Benbihy in 2006 with the release of Paris, je t’aime, followed by New York, I Love You (2008) and Rio, I Love You (2014).

Diego Luna

Luna joins an ensemble cast that includes Jenna Dewan Tatum, Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Jim Sturgess, Mickey Rourke, Orlando Bloom, Sophie Turner, Jack Huston, Patrick Dempsey and Renee Zellweger.

Like the other films, Berlin, I Love You will feature short stories of romance, this time set in the German capital.

Written by Neil La Bute and David Vernon, the segments are being directed by Fernando Eimbcke, Dennis Gansel, Massy Tadjedin, Peter Chelsom, Til Schweiger, Justin Franklin, Dani Levy and Dianna Agron. Josef Rusnak will helm the transition sequence that ties all the episodes together.

New Trailer Released for Rodriguez’s “The Fate of the Furious”

Michelle Rodriguez is kicking it into high gear…

Universal Pictures has released a new trailer for The Fate of the Furious, starring the38-year-old Dominican-American actress.

Michelle Rodriguez

Once again, the car criminals-turned-superheroes are back in this upcoming eighth installment, this time going up again a mysterious tech terrorist, who forces an alliance with Vin Diesel’s family leader Dominic Toretto.

F. Gary Gray is at the helm of the sequel, which will bow in theaters April 14.

After Dom is seduced into a world of crime and betray those closest to him, the gang is forced to go against their former leader and end up working with one of their greatest enemies to take him down.

There’s explosions, melodrama, intense fight scenes, witty comebacks, and of course, a lot of cars going really fast –all the elements that have made the Fast & Furious a billion-dollar franchise.

The film sees the return of Diesel, Rodriguez, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky and Kurt Russell along with newcomers Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren and Scott Eastwood.

Miranda to Perform at One-Night Only Broadway Show Benefiting Hillary Clinton’s Hillary Victory Fund

Lin-Manuel Miranda is stumping for Hillary Clinton

The 36-year-old Puerto Rican actor and Hamilton star/creator has joined the list of Broadway and Hollywood stars teaming up for a one-night only Broadway performance benefiting the Hillary Victory Fund.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Miranda joins a lineup that includes Julia Roberts and Hugh Jackman, all appearing in support of Clinton.

The show, “Stronger Together,” features Chelsea Clinton as a special guest and Billy Crystal as host, appearing alongside familiar faces including Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Emily Blunt, Anne Hathaway, Josh Groban, Angela Bassett, Neil Patrick Harris, Helen Mirren, Sienna Miller, Bernadette Peters, Cynthia Erivo, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Sarah Jones, Andrea McArdle and Ayodele Casel.

Organizers of the evening promise new duets and collaborations.

Michael Mayer, the Spring Awakening and Hedwig and the Angry Inch director whose Off-Broadway production of Love, Love, Love is now running, will direct the production, with Diane Paulus on board as special consultant. John Guare serves as script consultant, with Seth Rudetsky as musical director.

The event is set for October 17 at the St. James Theater, the Jujamcyn-owned venue currently occupied by “Something Rotten!,” which is dark on Monday nights.

Tickets are on sale on the Hillary Clinton website.