Rodriguez to Direct “Escape From New York” Remake

Robert Rodriguez is preparing for his big Escape

The 48-year-old Mexican American filmmaker will direct Escape From New York, the remake of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 film for 20th Century Fox.

Robert Rodriguez

The studio won a bidding battle for rights to the reboot in early 2015, with Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman’s The Picture Company set to produce.

Neil Cross is penning the script.

The original was released by Avco Embassy, and the rights were owned by Studiocanal. Carpenter will be an executive producer and have a big say in the tone of the project. Fox’s Mike Ireland, who brought in the movie, will oversee for the studio. The hope is to reinvent the property with an eye toward launching a Planet Of The Apes-like franchise.

The deal cements the relationship with Rodriguez and Fox; the director just helmed the studio’s Alita: Battle Angel, the film based on Yukito Kishiro’s manga graphic novels that was written by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis. Set in a 26th century dystopian future, the film follows the story of an amnesiac cyborg who, after being rescued from a scrap heap by a doctor, becomes a bounty hunter tracking down criminals. Rosa Salazar and Christoph Waltz star in the film, which has a July 20, 2018 release date mapped out.

The cynical original Escape From New York, hatched by Carpenter after the Watergate scandal, was set in a futuristic Gotham circa 1997. Kurt Russell played Snake Plissken, an eyepatch-sporting tough guy who is conscripted to rescue the President of the United States after Air Force One — en route to a summit that could head off World War III — goes missing after it crashes in New York, which has been relegated to a maximum security prison. Plissken, a former special forces operative convicted of trying to rob the Federal Reserve, is given 22 hours to liberate the president and a tape he carries which holds the key to peace. If he fails, he’s wired to explode.

Rodriguez and Carpenter have collaborated before. Rodriguez’s El Rey Network last fall announced the launch of The People’s Network Showcase, a series of specials featuring short films from emerging indie filmmakers. Carpenter hosted the premiere episode, The People’s Network Showcase: Horror Edition.

González to Star in Robert Rodriguez’s “Alita: Battle Angel” for Fox

Eiza González is ready for Battle

The 26-year-old Mexican actress/singer has been cast in Fox’s Alita: Battle Angel, the Robert Rodriguez-directed film based on Yukito Kishiro’s popular manga graphic novels.

Eiza González

Set in a 26th-century dystopian future, the film follows the story of an amnesiac cyborg who, after being rescued from a scrap heap by a doctor, becomes a bounty hunter tracking down criminals.

James Cameron will co-write the script with Laeta Kalogridis.

Cameron will also produce alongside Jon Landau as the film is set for release in July 2018.

This marks the second collaboration between Rodriguez and González, who co-stars in his El Rey Network series From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series.

She can next be seen in Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, which Sony will release March 2017.

Higareda to Star in Netflix’s Futuristic Drama Series “Altered Carbon”

It’s an altered reality for Martha Higareda

The 32-year-old Mexican Actress has been cast as the female lead opposite Joel Kinnaman and James Purefoy in Altered Carbon, Netflix’s futuristic drama series conceived, written and executive produced by Laeta Kalogridis.

Martha Higareda

Based on Richard Morgan’s award-winning 2002 cyberpunk sci-fi novel, Altered Carbon is set in the 25th century when the human mind has been digitized and the soul is transferable from one body to the next. Takeshi Kovacs (Kinnaman), a former elite interstellar warrior known as an Envoy who has been imprisoned for 500 years, is downloaded into a future he’d tried to stop. If he can solve a single murder in a world where technology has made death nearly obsolete, he’ll get a chance at a new life on Earth.

Higareda will play Kristin Ortega, a smart and tough Lieutenant in the Bay City PD. She and her family are immigrants from the North LaTam Zone (an area that was once Mexico, Belize, Guatamala and El Salvador) and Ortega is following in the footsteps of her father, a cop who died heroically in the line of duty.

Purefoy will play Laurens Bancroft. One of the superwealthy class known as Methuselahs, Bancroft is rich, influential, and over 500 years old. He is a man of contradictions, ruthlessly powerful yet unexpectedly moral, his deep passion for all the pleasures of life matched only by his need to exert iron control over everything around him.

Miguel Sapochnik will direct the first episode.

Higareda’s previous credits include television appearances on Royal Pains and El Mariachi, as well as film appearances in McFarland, USA and Borderland.