Disney & Pixar Release Trailer for Animated Film “Elio,” Featuring America Ferrera

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

America Ferrera is getting animated…

Disney and Pixar have released the first teaser for Elio, featuring the 39-year-old Honduran American award-winning actress as part of the voice cast.

In addition to Ferrera, the voice cast of Pixar Animation’s 28th animated feature will also include up-and-comer Yonas Kibreab, Jameela Jamil and Brad Garrett.

Directed by Adrian Molina, the co-director and writer of Pixar’s Coco, Elio introduces viewers to Kibreab’s character of the same name. An underdog with an active imagination, Elio finds himself inadvertently beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide.

Mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador to the rest of the universe, and completely unprepared for that kind of pressure, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien life forms, survive a series of formidable trials and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.

Ferrera voices Elio’s mom, Olga, with Jamil as Ambassador Questa and Garrett as Ambassador Grigon.

Produced by Mary Alice Drumm, who associate produced Coco, the film is set for release in theaters on March 1, 2024.

Luis Guzmán to Star in Rian Johnson’s Peacock Series “Poker Face”

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Luis Guzmán is playin’ poker…

The 66-year-old Puerto Rican actor will star in Peacock’s Poker Face, a mystery drama series starring Natasha Lyonne, hailing from Rian Johnson, his T-Street banner and MRC Television.

Guzman is among a roster of new cast additions that includes Cherry Jones, Hong Chau and Reed Birney.

Details of their roles, as well as plot details of the 10-episode anthology-like series are being kept under wraps.

In addition to Lyonne, the four join previously announced cast members Adrien Brody, Angel Desai, Audrey Corsa, Benjamin Bratt, Charles Melton, Chloe Sevigny, Clea DuVall, Danielle MacDonald, Dascha Polanco, Ellen Barkin, Jasmine Aiyana Garvin, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Light, Leslie Silva, Lil Rel Howery, Niall Cunningham, Nicholas Cirillo, Nick Nolte, Ron Perlman, S. Epatha Merkerson, Shane Paul McGhie, Simon Helberg, Stephanie Hsu, Tim Blake Nelson and Tim Meadows.

Johnson is the creator, writer and director of Poker Face and will also executive produce alongside T-Street partner Ram Bergman and the company’s television president Nena Rodrigue. Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman (Prodigal Son, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) serve as showrunners and executive producers. Lyonne also will serve as an executive producer via her Animal Pictures. The company’s Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens will co-executive produce.

Guzmán is best known for his roles in Steven Soderbergh’s films such as Out of Sight, The Limey, and Traffic, and in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love.

On television, he has had key roles on Showtime’s Shameless, Epix’s Godfather of Harlem and Perpetual Grace, LTD.

MJ Rodriguez to Star in the Anthology Series Package “Girls Can’t Shoot (& Other Lies)”

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez is preparing to debunk some female-related myths…

The 30-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress and singer will star in the anthology series package Girls Can’t Shoot (& Other Lies), a project hailing from Mark Gordon Pictures.

Rodriguez joins an all-star cast that includes Beanie Feldstein, Kat Dennings, Jameela Jamil and Lolly Adefope.

The project is based on the international bestselling essay collection Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and Other Lies).

Saorise Ronan will serve as an executive producer of the pilot episode.

The source material, curated by Scarlett Curtis, has been published globally in 12 languages and includes essays authored by Ronan, Feldstein, Dennings, Jamil and Adefope.

The first season will explore and play with the expectations of women in storytelling by placing heroines at the center of traditionally male genres in a multitude of original, high concept, cinematic tales and will put the creative power squarely into the hands of female filmmakers. Curtis, who created the format, will serve across the entire series as EP and write the pilot episode.

“Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies) gave a generation of women the chance to tell their stories and Girls Can’t Shoot (& other lies) has the exact same mission,” Curtis said. “It has been my lifelong dream to show that women’s stories can be both entertaining and empowering and I could not have found a more incredible group of women to bring their extraordinary visions to life. Working with two producers as supportive, creative and risk taking as Bonnie and Mark has been a truly magical process.”

Shadi Hamta is attached as a writer, with each actor acting as executive producers in the episode in which they star. Dennings and Adefope will write the episodes in which they will star, adapted from their essays in the collection. Feldstein and Rodriguez have partnered to develop the episode in which they will co-star. Executive producing for Mark Gordon Pictures will be Gordon and Bonnie-Chance Roberts.

“It was in March 2020, on the cusp of the end of the world, that we first began dreaming of a way to harness the spirit of Scarlett’s book into a series,” Roberts said. So, to have had each of these wildly talented, deeply creative women partner with us and pour so much passion into the work is an absolute dream come true. Working with Scarlett, as wonderful of a person as she is a creative, has been the greatest joy!”

Mark Gordon Pictures has an existing deal with eOne, under which they continue to acquire, develop and produce an expansive slate of projects spanning multiple genres and mediums.

This year, Rodriguez became the first transgender woman to earn an Emmy Award nomination in a major acting category; she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in the third and final season of Pose.

Robert Beltran to Reprise “Star Trek: Voyager” Role on Paramount+’s New Series “Star Trek: Prodigy”

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Robert Beltran is heading back to space…

The 67-year-old Mexican-American actor has joined the voice cast of the new animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, which premieres on October 28 on Paramount+.

Beltran will reprise his Star Trek: Voyager role as Captain Chakotay on the new series, which will also includes Daveed Diggs, Jameela Jamil and Jason Alexander as part of the voice cast.

The series, produced by Nickelodeon and CBS Studios’ Eye Animation Productions, showcased a first-look clip from the series at New York Comic Con. It features a hologram of iconic Captain Kathryn Janeway (voiced by Kate Mulgrew).

The series will debut with a one-hour episode titled Lost & Found. In it, a group of lawless teens, exiled on a mining colony outside Federation space, discover a derelict Starfleet ship. Dal must gather an unlikely crew for their newfound ship if they are going to escape Tars Lamora, but the Diviner and his daughter Gwyn have other plans.

Developed by Emmy Award winners Kevin and Dan Hageman, the CG-animated series is the first Star Trek series aimed at younger audiences, and will follow a motley crew of young aliens who must figure out how to work together while navigating a greater galaxy in search of a better future. These six young outcasts know nothing about the ship they have commandeered – a first in the history of the “Star Trek” franchise – but over the course of their adventures together, they will each be introduced to Starfleet and the ideals it represents.

Demi Lovato’s Short Form Talk Show “The Demi Lovato Show” to Debut on Roku Channel in Late July

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Demi Lovato is ready to gab it up…

The 28-year-old half-Mexican American singer/actor’s short form talk show that had been set for Quibi now has a premiere date on the Roku Channel.

The Demi Lovato Show will bow Friday, July 30, as the first of more than a dozen Roku Originals titles set for the platform.

The talker will feature a special guest and cover topics including activism, feminism, gender identity, sex and body positivity, mental health and even UFOs.

Scheduled guests include Jameela Jamil, Lucy Hale, Nikita Dragun and experts in various fields. See the first-look photo above.

“Some conversations can be difficult, but I’ve never been one to shy away from speaking candidly about things,” Lovato said. “We wanted to create a space that normalizes living your own truth – where people can speak, engage and more importantly, learn, together. There’s something therapeutic about having raw discussions that people can relate to and with The Demi Lovato Show no topics are off limits and opinions are welcome. I’m so excited for people to see how these conversations unfold on the Roku Channel.”

The then-working-titled Pillow Talk with Demi Lovato was announced as a Quibi original in February but never aired on the shortform service run by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman. The duo announced in October that the streamer was shutting down, which it did on December 1. Roku revealed in May that Quibi shows would run as Roku Originals on the service.

Lovato has been busy with a number of other projects across various mediums: NBC single-camera comedy pilot Hungry, YouTube Original docuseries Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, four-part Peacock docuseries Unidentified with Demi Lovato (working title) and the singer-actor’s debut podcast 4D with Demi Lovato.

Produced by GoodStory Entertainment and SB Projects, The Demi Lovato Show is executive produced by Lovato, Scooter Braun, JD Roth, Adam Greener, Alison Kaye, Scott Manson, Todd Yasui and Sara Hansemann. The series is directed by Hannah Lux Davis.

HBO Max Renews Leiomy Maldonado’s “Legendary” for Third Season

Posted on June 19, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

There are more Legendary moments in Leiomy Maldonado’s future…

HBO has renewed its ballroom competition series Legendary, featuring the 34-year-old transgender Afro-Puerto Rican dancer, instructor, model, activist and ballroom dancer, for a third season.

In addition to Maldonado, returning judges include Jameela Jamil, Law Roach and Megan Thee Stallion. MC Dashaun Wesley will also return for the series, which hails from Queer Eye producer Scout Productions.

Legendary features a group of voguing houses, each featuring five performers and a leader called the house mother. The teams compete in a competition that documents a themed ball every episode from start to finish. Throughout each episode, we learn more about each house and their performers as they tell us their moving and inspirational backstories.

The first season was shot in New York and the second season featured LA houses. It’s not clear where season three will be shot.

Maldonado recently told Deadline that the series has brought newfound respect to the ballroom community, which has been the inspiration from everything from Madonna’s “Vogue” to Beyoncé.

“This show itself has shown a lot of people and gained a lot of respect for our community,” she said. “I feel like the ballroom community is prepared for competition and the competition they can bring to this show is something that you won’t see anywhere else.”

“We’ve only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to showcasing the beautiful world that is ballroom,” said Jennifer O’Connell, Executive Vice President, Non-Fiction and Live-Action Family Programming, HBO Max. “We are excited to work with our partners at Scout again to take this show to even greater heights in season three and continuing to shine a light on these compelling stories.”

“We are thrilled to return with our friends at HBO Max, as well as our iconic judges and MC Dashaun Wesley, for a third season,” added Rob Eric, Scout Productions’ Chief Creative Officer and executive producer. “We can’t wait for the next season’s talent to set the bar even higher as we continue to showcase the fabulous world of ballroom.”

Demi Lovato Launching New Podcast “4D with Demi Lovato”

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Demi Lovato is certainly in rapid cadence…

The 28-year-old half-Mexican American actress, who recently appeared in the YouTube Originals docuseries Dancing with the Devil, will launch 4D with Demi Lovato with podcast company Cadence13.

“Building upon the success of the documentary, we couldn’t be more thrilled to partner again with Demi through our audio division, OBB Sound, and continue to champion Demi’s voice using the powerful medium of audio,” added Michael D. Ratner, Founder, President and CEO, OBB Media. “We have incredible partners on this show in both SB Projects and Cadence13, and look forward to sharing this project with the world.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda to Lend Voice to Season Finale of “DuckTales,” “The Last Adventure”

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is going on a last adventure…

The 41-year-old Puerto Rican actor, singer, songwriter, rapper, composer, director, producer, author and playwright will take part in the 90-minute DuckTales series finale, which will air on Monday, March 15 at 7:00 pm ET/PT.

In the finale, titled “The Last Adventure!,” the future of adventuring hangs in the balance as the Duck family uncovers earth-shattering secrets in a final standoff with the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny (F.O.W.L.).

In addition to Miranda, returning guest voices include Giancarlo Esposito, Julie Bowen, Jaime Camil, Jameela Jamil, Catherine Tate, Stephanie Beatriz, Paul F. Tompkins, Jim Rash, Margo Martindale.

Jason Mantzoukas, John Hodgman, Retta, Kimiko Glenn, Libe Barer, Jaleel White and Amy Sedaris also return.

Noël Wells and Riki Lindhome guest star as sisters, June and May, respectively.

“It has been an absolute honor to adventure along with the Duck Family for three seasons of derring-do bad and good luck tales. Ever since Carl Barks took a silly squawking duck from a funny animal cartoon and sent him looking for pirate gold, these characters have been part of a constantly evolving legacy of invention and reinvention,” executive producer Matt Youngberg and co-executive producer Francisco Angones said. “We set out to honor all those things that we’ve loved about ‘DuckTales’ since we were kids and introduce new parts of that legacy for families around the globe. Along the way, our stellar crew, unbelievable cast and endlessly supportive fans have become a bit of a family ourselves. And it has been a great joy to solve mysteries and rewrite history alongside them.”

Disney also added that new DuckTales episodes will debut every Monday starting February 22, leading up to the series finale.

In addition to bringing the stories the Duck Family adventures to an end, the series finale will also feature a dramatic reading of the DuckTales main title song.

Cast members David Tennant, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, Bobby Moynihan, Kate Micucci, Beck Bennett, Toks Olagundoye and Paget Brewster come together to read the lyrics of the iconic musical number.

Dolores Huerta to Be Honored at This Year’s Girl Up #GirlHero Awards

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Dolores Huerta is living legend in the Latino community… And, now she’s being heralded as a girl hero.

The 90-year-old Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist, who co-founded the National Farmworkers Association (which later became the United Farm Workers) with Cesar Chavez, will be one of the honorees at this year’s Girl Up #GirlHero Awards.

Huerta, television super-producer Shonda Rhimes, #metoo and Founder Tarana Burke for their work on gender equality at its third annual ceremony, which will take place on International Day of the Girl.

The virtual event will take place online on Thursday, October 29 at 12:00 pm ET with Girl Up Champion Nigel Barker as co-host.

In addition, Girl Up executive director Melissa Kilby will highlight Girl Up’s Gen Z leaders fighting for change while special guests will make appearances on the event’s virtual red carpet.

“Today we’re celebrating gender equality giants, at a time when there’s a lot at stake for girls and women,” said Kilby. “We’re honored to stand with them in building a brighter, more equal movement by relentlessly showing that girls are and have always been leading us toward a better future.”

The awards will honor lifelong civil rights advocate Huerta, who models how standing for a cause can change the world. Rhimes will be honored for her work as a storyteller that explores the most relevant topics of our time, reflecting the world as we know it onscreen with dynamic characters; and Burke who founded #metoo, a movement that kicked off a worldwide wave of women taking a stand against violence and discrimination.

The honorees will participate in conversations with Girl Up’s own girl changemakers Ina Bhoopalam, Alliyah Logan, and Rym Badran as they share their work for gender equality.

The one-on-one conversations will highlight advocates, allies, and activists shaking up accepted norms and changing the trajectory of global gender equality over the course of their lifetime.

Honorees of last year’s #GirlHero Awards in Los Angeles were Cara Delevingne, Jameela Jamil and Kate Hudson.

Stephanie McMahon, Pamella Roland, LaVerne Council, Amanda Fata, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Michelle King, Alexandra Trustman, Shaun Robinson, Tracy Shaffer and Chantelle Siegel will serve as this year’s co-chairs of the event.

HBO Max Renews Leiomy Maldonado’s “Legendary” for Second Season

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

There’s more legendary moments in Leiomy Maldonado’s future…

HBO Max has ordered a second season of the reality voguing competition Legendary, featuring the 33-year-old Afro-Puerto Rican dancer, instructor, model and ballroom dancer, aka “Wonder Woman of Vogue.”

In addition to Maldonado, the reality competition series that puts the spotlight on ballroom culture, the series’ judges also include fashion stylist Law Roach, actress Jameela Jamil and rapper Megan Thee Stallion.

Dashaun Wesley will reprise his role as ballroom MC.

The final two episodes of season one were released this past week.

The current season takes place in New York but will make its way across the country to Los Angeles for its sophomore run.

Legendary celebrates ballroom culture which started in New York as a subculture that served as a safe haven for the LGBTQ community — primarily for Black and Latinx people. The series brings the culture to the masses as we see families or “Houses” fashion and dance challenges including voguing for the chance to snatch the trophy and win a cash prize.

In the first season, Legendaryfeatured eight voguing houses: House of Balmain, House of Escada, House of Gucci, House of Lanvin, House of Ninja, House of Ebony, House of St. Laurent and House of West. Each house included five performers and a leader affectionately called the house mother. The teams compete in a competition that documents a themed ball every episode from start to finish. Throughout each episode, we learn more about each House and their performers as they tell us their moving and inspirational backstories.

“Legendary was an HBO Max, day one premiere,” said Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer at HBO Max, President, TNT, TBS and truTV. “We knew we had something special and are proud that critics and audiences alike have embraced the series. Bringing this incredible world back for a second season furthers our commitment to high quality, compelling storytelling.”

“Our goal is to continue showcasing the exuberant and dynamic world of ballroom through the omnicultural stories of its most talented houses,” said Rob Eric, Scout Productions’ Chief Creative Officer and executive producer.

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