Gina Rodriguez to Make Feature Directorial Debut with Film Based on Ryan Garcia’s Boxing Life

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Gina Rodriguez is heading behind the lens…

The 36-year-old Puerto Rican actress will be making her feature film directorial debut on a feature film about a fictional character inspired by some of Mexican American boxer Ryan Garcia’s experiences in and around the sport.

Rodriguez is developing the project alongside Garcia, One Community and Endeavor Content.

Rodriguez will direct, star, produce and co-write the screenplay with actor and playwright Bernardo Cubria. Garcia will also star star.

“I grew up in a boxing family and loved watching sports dramas with my dad. The philosophies of fighting – working hard, staying focused, being honest, fighting fair but to win – has stayed with me,” said Rodriguez. “On behalf of myself and my production company I Can and I Will, I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Ryan Garcia on this film. He is not only an outstanding athlete and champion, but a true advocate of normalizing and furthering conversations on mental health. His bravery has inspired me, and I am honored to have his trust to direct this film and guide his first foray into the arts. In One Community, Endeavor Content and WME, I have found empowering partners who are driven to tell stories that bring love, tolerance and healing to the world. I am humbled by their support, in addition to that of my incredibly talented friend and fellow artist Bernardo Cubria who will be leading us in creating a script that celebrates both the sport and our community. We cannot wait to share this story with audiences worldwide.”

Similar to films like Rocky and Creed, this inspiring sports drama follows a Mexican-American boxer, Alex Guerrero (Garcia), whose struggles with mental health rival his toughest bouts in the ring. After a chance encounter with a World Champion propels him into the spotlight, he must prove to himself and the world that he has what it takes to come out on top.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to work with Gina, Bernardo, One Community, and Endeavor Content on this project,” said Garcia. “My goals have always been to prove myself in the ring and to also continue to share my story in hopes that it will inspire others. Boxing will always be at the forefront of my career and I cannot wait to return to the ring very soon as a stronger and healthier KingRy.”

The film will shoot mid-next year so as not to interfere with Garcia’s fight schedule.

“Ryan is an incredible fighter and remarkable human whose relentless focus and dedication has made him a superstar in the ring, but even more impressive is his desire to use his platform to help others by sharing his own struggles with anxiety and depression. Gina and Bernardo’s vision for this story spoke to us immediately and we are so excited to work with this incredibly inspiring team,” said Scott Budnick, CEO One Community.

The project is sure to become one of the hottest properties on the market as it is set to break barriers with a Latinx presence in front and behind the camera.

Garcia started boxing at age 7 and was a 15-time national champion. Since joining the Golden Boy stable in 2016, Garcia has steadily made his case as one of the best and most exciting up-and-coming boxers by defeating fighters such as Romero Duno, Francisco Fonseca, Carlos Morales and Jason Velez. His most recent match against Olympic Gold Medalist Luke Campbell was a true display of perseverance as Ryan hit the floor for the first time in his professional career to come back and defeat Campbell with a gut-wrenching punch to the body in the seventh round.

At 22, Garcia has an undefeated professional record of 21-0, 18 by way of knock out, currently holds the WBC Interim Lightweight title and trains under world renowned trainer, Eddie Reynoso and his father, Henry Garcia. In addition, he has amassed over 13 million followers across social platforms bringing new audiences to the sport.

Rodriguez is best known for playing the title role on the hit series Jane the Virgin, for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. Her upcoming projects include Netflix’s film Awake and Netflix’s mini series Lost Ollie.

Jenna Ortega to Star in Netflix’s Addams Family-Themed Series “Wednesday”

Posted on May 20, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Jenna Ortega is all about Hump Day…

The 18-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexican American actress has landed the title role in Wednesday, Tim Burton’s live-action Addams Family series for Netflix focused on the iconic character of Wednesday Addams.

The coming-of-age comedy, written by Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar and to be directed by Burton, is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ (Ortega) years as a student at Nevermore Academy. That’s where she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships.

The YA series, Wednesday Addams’ first solo vehicle, marks Burton’s first live-action show and his television directing debut.

Ortega is taking over the role from Christina Ricci, the actress most closely associated the character, who played Wednesday in both feature films, The Addams Family in 1991 and sequel Addams Family Values in 1993.

Burton executive produces with Gough and Millar, who will serve as showrunners on the series. Wednesday is produced by MGM Television, which controls the underlying rights to the IP.

Ortega burst onto the scene in 2014 with two major recurring roles on Fox’s Rake and the CW’s Jane the Virgin. The latter, where Ortega played younger version of the title character, put her on the map, and Ortega quickly landed her first series lead role on Disney Channel’s Stuck In the Middle.

A lead role on Season 2 of Netflix’s You followed. On the streamer, Ortega also recently co-starred in hit feature comedy Yes Day.

Her recent feature credits also include leads in The Fallout and the upcoming Scream.

Ortega shared the news on Instagram:

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Valentina Garza Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a new endeavor for Valentina Garza.

The 45-year-old Cuban-American writer and producer has signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME).

Garza, whose credits include co-executive producer roles on the CW’s Jane the Virgin and ABC’s The Baker and the Beauty, is currently under an overall deal at Universal Television.

She also wrote and executive produced the Jane spinoff pilot Jane the Novela; the project ended up not going forward. She also has developed for Lee Daniels Productions/20th as well as ABC Studios/ABC.

This most recent development season, Garza sold a Latinx family drama to NBC. It revolved around an explosive incident that brings a woman’s mentally ill mother crashing back into her life. She’s now forced to revisit her family’s painful past and blur carefully constructed boundaries between her mother and the family she’s chosen.

The project explores themes of race, mental health, housing instability, immigration and generational trauma.

Earlier in her career, Garza spent six seasons on Fox’s The Simpsons rising to supervising producer, then served as supervising producer on Fox’s Bordertown.

Gina Rodriguez to Star in the Netflix Rom-Com “Players”

Posted on March 11, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Gina Rodriguez is a real player(s)…

The 36-year-old Puerto Rican actress and Golden Globe-winning star of Jane The Virgin will star in Players, a romantic comedy from Netflix.

Rodriguez will appear opposite Damon Wayans Jr., and Tom Ellis in the film, which will be produced by Marc Platt Productions and Campfire.

Trish Sie is set to direct the feature from a script by Whit Anderson.

The plot follows Chicago sportswriter Mack (Rodriguez) who has spent years devising successful hook-up “plays” with best friend Adam (Wayans Jr.) and their crew, but when she unexpectedly falls head-over-heels for one of her targets (Ellis), they all must learn what it takes to go from simply scoring to playing for keeps.

Rodriguez and Molly Breeskin will serve as executive producers under their I Can and I Will Productions.

Rodriguez, who starred in Netflix’s Someone Great, which she also served as a producer, has an upcoming project slate that includes the Amazon features I Want You Back and comedy-adventure Lost and Found as well as Netflix family series, Lost Ollie.

Gina Rodriguez to Star On Netflix’s Live-Action/Animation Hybrid Family Series “Lost Ollie”

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Gina Rodriguez is getting lost in her work…

The 36-year-old Puerto Rican Golden Globe-winning actress has been cast in Netflix’s Lost Ollie, a live-action/animation hybrid family series based on William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg’s book Ollie’s Odyssey.

Rodriguez, who rose to acclaim on Jane The Virgin, will star opposite Jonathan Groff, Mary J. Blige, Tim Blake Nelson, Jake Johnson and Kesler Talbot in a mix of live action and voice roles in the series from Shannon Tindle, Peter Ramsey, producer Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment and Industrial Light & Magic.

Created, adapted and executive produced by Tindle, Lost Ollie follows a lost toy, searching across the countryside for the boy who lost him, and the story of the boy who lost more than a best friend.

Groff will voice Ollie, a handmade toy rabbit stitched together from odds and ends. Ollie has a pure spirit with a heart of gold and never ruins a chance to make friends. He’s been best friends with Billy since forever, until one day he ends up in a resale shop with no way home. Though he’s often afraid of the unknown, Ollie puts on a brave face and sets off to find Billy, meeting other toys to help him along the way.

Rodriguez will play Momma. Billy’s mother Sharon is a loving woman who inspires creativity and imagination in her son. She makes sure to cherish their time together, teaching Billy all the things he’ll need to know to find happiness in the future.

Jaime Camil to Star in Steven Soderbergh’s Next Film “KIMI” for HBO Max

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Jaime Camil has landed his next role…

The 47-year-old Mexican actor/singer and Jane The Virgin scene-stealer has been cast in Steven Soderbergh’s next film, the New Line Max Original feature KIMI, with Zoë Kravitz on board to star. Byron Bowers is also on board.

The film will premiere exclusively on HBO Max. David Koepp penned the script and will produce along with Michael Polaire.

Plot details are being kept under wraps.

Camil can next be seen starring opposite Cecily Strong, Keegan-Michael Key, Jane Krakowski, Fred Armisen, Alan Cumming, Ariana DeBose and Kristen Chenoweth in the upcoming Apple+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon! from executive producer Lorne Michaels. He previously starred as fan and critic favorite in the Golden Globe-nominated and AFI Award-winning series Jane the Virgin. Most recently he starred in and executive produced the CBS comedy series Broke, becoming the first Latino lead in a comedy series for CBS since Desi Arnaz in I Love Lucy.

Camil is also teaming up with Jane the Virgin show creator Jennie Synder Urman and writer/comedian Al Magrigal to develop the single-camera comedy series Guerrillas through ABC, which he’ll co-executive produce and star in.

William Morris Endeavor (WME) Signs Gina Rodriguez & Her Production Company

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a new endeavor for Gina Rodriguez…

William Morris Endeavor (WME) has signed the 36-year-old Puerto Rican actress and her production company I Can and I Will Productions, run by Molly Breeskin, in all areas.

The Golden Globe-winning former Jane the Virgin star was previously at Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

Rodriguez played the title role in the CW series Jane the Virgin for 100 episodes, winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Series Musical or Comedy in 2015.

Rodriguez recently starred in the Focus Features title Kajillionaire opposite Evan Rachel Wood and Richard Jenkins. The Miranda July directed feature made its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Rodriguez’s upcoming projects include the Netflix film Awake and the miniseries Lost Ollie for the streamer.

She has starred in Sony/Screen Gems’ Miss Bala and the Netflix feature Someone Great, a film in which she also served as a producer.

Her voice can be heard in the title role of Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego, and she also had starring voiceovers in Twentieth Century Fox/Blue Sky’s Ferdinand, Warner Brothers’ Smallfoot and Scoob, and Sony’s The Star.

In addition to her acting career, the native Chicagoan and NYU Tisch School alum is a driving force for inclusion and the empowerment of women in all ways, particularly in the entertainment industry. This passion led her to create her production company, I Can and I Will Productions, with a mission directly reflecting her commitment to create art and tell stories from those who are traditionally unseen and unheard.

The company has finished its second season of Diary of a Future President where Rodriguez directed, produced, and performed as the future president.

With her family, she established the We Will Foundation, which aims to uplift and champion underprivileged youth through arts, education, scholarship funding, and financial literacy.

Alex Meneses to Appear on The CW’s “Walker”

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Alex Meneses has landed a mother of a role…

The 56-year-old half-Mexican American actress has joined the cast of The CW’s drama Walker in a recurring role.

Meneses, who has appeared on Jane The Virgin and Why Women Kill, will play Adriana, a successful psychiatrist and published author and mother of Micki Ramirez (Lindsey Morgan), Cordell Walker’s new partner in the Texas Rangers. She’s a strong personality who’s manipulative and very invasive when it comes to her daughter Micki’s life.

Walker, which launched in January, has become The CW’s most-watched series premiere in five years and has been renewed for a second season. It stars Jared Padalecki as Walker, a widower and father of two with his own moral code, as he returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years.

The series, a reimagining of CBS’ long-running 1990s action/crime series Walker, Texas Ranger, hails from Rideback and CBS Studios.

Meneses is coming off feature film The Wall of Mexico and has also appeared in Everybody Loves Raymond, The Goldbergs, CSI and Prison Break.

Gina Rodriguez to Star Opposite Zachary Levi in the Comedy Adventure “Lost and Found”

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Gina Rodriguez has (lost &) found her next project…

The 36-year-old Golden Globe-winning Puerto Rican actress and former Jane the Virgin star is set to star in Amazon Studios’ comedy adventure Lost and Found.

Rodriguez will star opposite Zachary Levi, with Steve Pink set to direct. Pink and Jeff Morris wrote the script, about a headstrong lawyer and an off-the-grid renegade who reluctantly team up to find a long-lost buried treasure by the Mississippi River.

Levi is producing through his Wyldwood Studios along with Rodriguez and Molly Breeskin under their banner I Can and I Will Productions, and Pink through his Pink Machine banner.

Rodriguez most recently starred in Kajillionaire for Focus Features, the Netflix rom-com Someone Great and Scoob!

Her past past films include Deepwater Horizon, Ferdinand, Annihilation and the Miss Bala remake.

She voices the title character in the Netflix animated action-adventure series Carmen San Diego and is producer of the Disney+ series Diary of a Future President.

Jorge Diaz to Star in Pilot for HBO Max’s “Head of the Class” Sitcom Reboot

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Jorge Diaz is moving to the head of the class…

The 37-year-old Mexican American actor has joined the cast of HBO Max’s multi-camera comedy pilot Head of the Class, a reboot of the popular 1980s ABC sitcom.

Diaz joins a roster of new additions to the cast that includes Dior Goodjohn, Brandon Severs, Adrian Matthew Escalona and Christa Miller.

They join previously announced Isabella Gomez, Gavin Lewis and Jolie Hoang-Rappaport in the reboot which hails from American Vandal writers Amy Pocha and Seth Cohen, Bill Lawrence and his Doozer Productions; and Warner Bros. Television, which produced the original series.

Written by Pocha and Cohen, based on the original series created by Rich Eustis and Michael Elias, the reimagined Head of the Class revolves around a group of overachieving high school students who meet their greatest challenge — a teacher Alicia Adams (Gomez), who wants them to focus less on grades and more on experiencing life.

Diaz plays Elliot Olsen, a goofy English teacher who loves his job and is genuine to a fault. Goodjohn is Robyn Rook. Stem queen turned Twitch streamer, Robyn’s the defacto leader of the class – though she’d never admit it. Severs will portray Terrell Smith, is a year-round athlete, who is uber-positive and all about team mentality. Escalona is Miles Mendelson, the shy, introverted, overthinking coder, who’d rather spend time with computers than people. Miller recurs as Principal Maris, an intimidating, tough love boss that always puts the students first.

Diaz has appeared on a number of hit comedies including the CW’s Jane The Virgin, NBC’s The Good Place and Netflix’s Arrested Development. He also starred as SPC Israel Garza in Nat Geo’s Critics Choice-nominated Iraq war drama, The Long Road Home. On the film side, Diaz portrayed Hector Estrella in Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, earning a nomination for an Imagen Foundation Award for his performance.

Escalona was first discovered in 2018, when a video of him singing “She Used To Be Mine” from the Broadway musical Waitress went viral with almost 4 million views and counting. He went on to be invited by Waitress writer and composer Sara Bareilles to make a guest appearance during her tour stop in Pittsburgh, near his home town. Head of the Class is Escalona’s first major TV role.

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