Guillermo Díaz Wraps Production on Indie Thriller “You Can’t Stay Here”

Guillermo Díaz isn’t staying here

The 47-year-old Cuban American actor has wrapped production in New York of his upcoming indie thriller You Can’t Stay Here.

Guillermo Diaz, You Can’t Stay HereThe film is loosely inspired by real events in New York City in the 1990’s. It follows a photographer (Díaz), who witnesses the brutal murder of a gay man in Central Park. When the cops take little interest in the crime, a relationship develops between the photographer and the killer.

“I have been a fan of Guillermo since his first film and when he approached me about wanting to work on something together, I jumped at the chance and came up with the story for You Can’t Stay Here, ” said director Todd Verow, who produces through his Bangor Films. “It is a film about queer cruising and finding love and real human connections in the most unlikely places. While set in the 1990s, the film’s themes of homophobia, social hysteria, and finding oneself in a dangerous and intolerant world are as resonant as ever today.”

The script was penned by Verow and his longtime collaborator James Derek Dwyer.

The cast also includes Becca Blackwell, Justin Ivan Brown, Vanessa Aspillaga, Marlene Forte, Jack Waters, Karina Arroyave, Jordan Hall and Michael Vaccaro.

Díaz, who will be seen in Universal Pictures’ upcoming comedy Bros, also serves as one of the film’s producers alongside Verow, James Kleinmann, and Christian DiPillo.

Diaz’s television credits include Scandal and Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Zach Villa to Star in LGBTQ-Themed Horror-Thriller “Hypochondriac”

Zach Villa is dealing with a little health anxiety

The 34-year-old Mexican American actor, singer, songwriter, dancer and musician will star in Addison Heimann’s feature directorial debut Hypochondriac.

Zach Villa Villa will star opposite Devon Graye, Madeline Zima, Chris Doubek, Marlene FortePaget Brewster, Adam Busch, Michael Cassidy, Peter Mensah and Debra Wilson in the project.

In the LGBTQ-themed horror-thriller, a young potter’s life devolves into chaos as he loses function of his body while being haunted by the physical manifestation of his childhood trauma.

Bay Dariz is producing through his Minutehand Pictures banner alongside John Humber, with Michelle Lewitt handling casting.

Heimann is a queer filmmaker whose goal is to elevate and empower queer characters in the genre space. His shorts and web series have played the Chicago International Film Festival, Fantasia, Inside Out, Atlanta International, the Nashville Film Festival, Outfest, and the New York Television Festival, among others. They can also be seen online via Dust, Omeleto, Film Shortage, and Revry.

Villa’s previous credits include American Horror Story: 1984, Bordertown and Station 19.

Briarcliff Entertainment Acquires US Rights to Raúl Castillo’s Latino Superhero Film “El Chicano”

El Chicano will be sweeping into theaters next year…

Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to the Latino superhero film with an all-Hispanic cast, including star Raúl Castillo.

El Chicano

The action film tells the story of twin brothers Diego and Pedro (both played by Castillo), who grew up together on the streets of East Los Angeles. As adults, their lives took radically different paths as Diego became a celebrated detective for the LAPD, and Pedro turned to a dead-end life of crime. When clues start connecting Pedro’s death to a case Diego is working on, a mythological figure from his youth, The Ghetto Grim Reaper, draws Diego in deeper than he ever expected. He becomes that figure, a Hispanic version of Batman or Black Panther.

The film also stars George Lopez, Aimee Garcia, Emilio Rivera, Kate del Castillo, Mr. Criminal, Noel G. Marco Rodriguez, Marlene Forte, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Sal Lopez, David Castañeda and Armida Lopez.

El Chicano marks the feature film directorial debut of 25-year veteran stuntman Ben Hernandez Bray, who co-wrote the script with Joe Carnahan.

Carnahan was frustrated waiting for Bad Boys 3 to come together, he succumbed to Bray’s rationale and bailed on one franchise in hopes of starting another.

“I was frustrated with Bad Boys 3, and Ben had been talking about this for a decade,” Carnahan said. “He would tell me that 25% of movie tickets are purchased by Latinos, and so where are their big heroes? We wrote this on spec, and these white oil and gas guys from Canada gave us the money to make it at an under $8 million budget. It got an amazing response at the L.A. Film Festival. We believe in this, and that it can find a big audience and launch a franchise.”

Said Bray: “Just the fact that we’re making this announcement during Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates the vital and important presence of Hispanics and Latinos in North America, is wonderful to me. The time is now for a film like El Chicano. A Latino superhero franchise is long overdue, but to have the forces of Joe Carnahan, Frank Grillo, Tom Ortenberg and Lorenzo di Bonaventurain the mix just makes it even sweeter and well worth the wait!”

The film will be released theatrically on March 22, 2019, with a reported target of 600-800 screens.