Benicio del Toro’s “The Phoenician Scheme” Headed to Peacock on July 25

Benicio del Toro is bringing his schemin’ to Peacock.

Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme. starring the 58-year-old Puerto Rican Oscar-winning actor, will begin streaming on Peacock on Friday, July 25.

Benicio del ToroThat’s a 56-day theatrical window on par with the filmmaker’s previous Focus Features 2023 title Asteroid City‘s screen-to-Peacock premiere.

The Phoenician Scheme follows wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (del Toro) who is on the run and wanted by myriad governments, the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins. In the midst of chaos he appoints his estranged and only daughter, a nun (Mia Threapleton), to be the sole heir of his estate. She also gets pulled into his globe trotting.

The film also stars Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Phoenician Scheme repped Anderson’s third movie with Focus Features after 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom and Asteroid City.

Following a 7 1/2 minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film FestivalThe Phoenician Scheme opened limited in NYC and LA during its first weekend to $560K (or $93,4K opening theater average, the highest year to date).

The film went wide in weekend 2 making $6.2M and finaling at $19.2M domestic, $37.4M worldwide.

This was slightly less than the filmmaker’s Asteroid City which posted a first weekend of $853K (or $142,2K opening theater average — the best of 2023) and had a second weekend of $9M with a final domestic of $28.1M, global of $53.8M.

Anderson won a Live Action Short Oscar last year for his Netflix short The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.

Natalie Morales to Star in Amazon MGM Studios’ Feature Film “You Deserve Each Other”

Natalie Morales has landed a well-deserved role.

The 40-year-old Cuban American actress has joined the cast of Amazon MGM Studios’ feature film You Deserve Each Other, a take on Sarah Hogle’s bestselling novel of the same name.

Natalie MoralesMorales is among a list of new cast additions that includes Justin Long, Kyle MacLachlanAna GasteyerTimothy Busfield, Hope Davis, Delaney Rowe, Lisa Gilroy and Alyssa Limperis.

They join previously cast Penn Badgley and Meghann Fahy.

Billed as a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy, You Deserve Each Other, follows Naomi Westfield who has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose who holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They’re preparing for their lavish wedding that’s three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.

Naomi wants out, but there’s a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.

But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they’re finally being themselves – and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.

Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn are directing.

Morales, who starred in The Grey’s Anatomy and No Hard Feelings, will play the role of Cassie.  

First published in 2020 by Penguin imprint G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Hogle’s novel was a 2x Goodreads Choice Awards nominee, for best romance and best debut, in addition to being an Amazon Editors’ Pick for best romance.

Showtime Moves Premiere Date for Benjamin Flores Jr.’s Drama Series “Your Honor” to January 2023

Benjamin Flores Jr. is heading back to court in the New Year…

The premiere date for the Showtime drama series Your Honor, starring the 20-year-old Afro-Latino actor, will now premiere on Sunday, January 13. Originally the second season was to start this upcoming December.

Benjamin Flores Jr.The 10-episode second season of the Bryan Cranston-led courtroom drama follows his character Michael Desiato, a New Orleans judge whose career is called into question when his teenage son kills the son of a crime boss in a hit-and-run.

Michael Stuhlbarg plays crime boss Jimmy Baxter, with Hope Davis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Andrene Ward Hammond, Keith Machekanyanga, Lilli Kay, Jimi Stanton and Flores rounding out the cast.

Slated guest stars for season two include Rosie Perez, Margo Martindale and Amy Landecker.

CBS Studios produces the show in association with King Size Productions.

Rosie Perez to Appear on Second & Final Season of Showtime’s “Your Honor”

Rosie Perez is embracing a new Honor

The 57-year-old Puerto Rican Oscar-nominated actress and activist will join Bryan Cranston in the upcoming second and final season of Showtime’s Your Honor, in a major recurring role.

Rosie PerezPerez will play Olivia Delmont, a charismatic assistant U.S Attorney who must manipulate and motivate an unwilling asset in order to bring down a crime organization in New Orleans.

In the series, Cranston stars as Michael Desiato, a respected New Orleans judge whose teenage son is involved in a hit-and-run that leads to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.

The cast also includes Michael Stuhlbarg, Hope Davis, Hunter Doohan, Carmen Ejogo, Isiah Whitlock Jr,, Sofia Black-D’Elia and Keith Machekanyanga.

Additionally, there will be more of Big Mo in Season 2. Andrene Ward-Hammond, who recurred as the character in the first season, has been promoted to series regular for the upcoming season. Big Mo is the formidable leader of the Desire Gang, who demands fierce loyalty as she pushes to expand her empire throughout New Orleans. Ward-Hammond appeared in five episodes in the first season.

Season 1 of Your Honor, which was based on the Israeli series Kvodo created by Ron Ninio and Shlomo Mashiach, became the most-watched debut season on Showtime ever with 6.6 million weekly viewers.

Your Honor is produced by CBS Studios in association with KingSize Productions.

Perez can currently be seen starring in The Flight Attendant as Megan Briscoe, a role which earned her an Emmy nomination for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also can be seen starring in Apple TV+’s bilingual thriller series Now and Then and voices Petra in animated series Human Resources

Oscar-nominated for her role in Fearless, Perez’s additional film credits include Do the Right Thing and White Men Can’t Jump.

Fabrizio Guido to Appear on Season Two of HBO’s Detective Noir Series “Perry Mason”

Fabrizio Guido is headed to court…

The 22-year-old predominantly Mexican American actor has landed a recurring role on the second season of HBO’s four-time Emmy-nominated detective noir series Perry Mason.

Fabrizio Guido

Guido is part of a list of new recurring cast members that includes Hope DavisJon ChaffinPeter MendozaOnohoua Rodriguez and Jee Young Han.

Meanwhile Katherine Waterston has come aboard as a series regular, while Diarra Kilpatrick who played Clara Drake in Season 1, has been upped to series regular.

Season 2 of Perry Mason takes place months after the end of the Dodson trial. Perry (Matthew Rhys) has moved off the farm, ditched the milk truck, he’s even traded his leather jacket for a pressed suit. It’s the worst year of the Depression, and Perry and Della (Juliet Rylance) have set the firm on a safer path pursuing civil cases instead of the tumultuous work criminal cases entail. Unfortunately, there isn’t much work for Paul (Chris Chalk) in wills and contracts, so he’s been out on his own. An open-and-closed case overtakes the city of Los Angeles, and Perry’s pursuit of justice reveals that not everything is always as it seems.

Meanwhile, Kilpatrick’s Clara has a new baby on her hands and has moved in with her brother’s family. She can feel the walls closing in, though she has her husband’s back amidst increasingly challenging dynamics at home.

Guido is set as Rafael Gallardo, who despite coming from a farming family is a talented artist with the heart of a poet. He, alongside his brother, is standing trial and facing execution, and the odds couldn’t be more stacked against him.

Mendoza plays Mateo Gallardo. With his brother, he must come to terms with the encroaching possibility of his execution after he’s accused of murder.

Rodriguez is Luisa Gallardo, Rafael and Mateo’s aunt. Luisa is determined to get her nephews out of this hellhole of a bind. Fearing the court of public opinion will overshadow a fair trial, Luisa seeks out the help of a more caring attorney than the public defender they were assigned.

 

Jason Statham’s “Heat” Reboot with Vergara Earning International Sales

Sofia Vergara’s latest film is packin’ serious heat…

The Simon West-directed Heat reboot, which stars Jason Statham and the 40-year-old Colombian actress, has been selling quite well for Sierra/Affinity Films.

Sofia Vergara

The remake of the 1986 film of the same name starring Burt Reynolds was penned by William Goldman. Currently in-production, Heat is expected to be released in 2014.

Since introducing the action film in Berlin and a day into the Cannes Market, Sierra/Affinity’s film has more than 20 territories finalized including the UK (Lionsgate), Germany, Latin America, South Africa and Turkey.

Along with Statham and Vergara, the film also stars Michael Angarano, Stanley Tucci, Milo Ventimiglia, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Hope Davis, Jason Alexander, Max Casella and Anne Heche.