Esai Morales to Star in Paul Schrader’s Film “Master Gardener”

Posted on February 5, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Esai Morales is taking up gardening…

The 59-year-old old Puerto Rican actor will star in Paul Schrader’s film Master Gardener.

Led by Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver, the film is now shooting in Louisiana.

In addition to Morales, recently added cast members include Quintessa Swindell, who will play Maya, the wayward and troubled great-niece of Mrs Haverhill (Weaver), who is taken on as a new apprentice by the titular gardener Narvel Roth (Edgerton).

Morales will play Roth’s Witness Protection Officer.

Amanda Crittenden of KOJO Studios and Scott LaStaiti are producing together with David Gonzales, Schrader’s manager. Luisa Law, KOJO Studios’ Linda Ujuk and Dale Roberts are executive producers.

Morales previous credits include La Bamba, American Family, Resurrection Blvd., NYPD Blue and Ozark.

Guillermo del Toro to Receive ‘Hall of Fame Award’ During Final Draft Awards

Posted on January 27, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Guillermo del Toro has earned a spot in the Final (Draft)…

The 57-year-old Mexican Oscar-winning filmmaker will be among the honorees for screenwriting excellence at the 17th annual Final Draft Awards, which will be presented in a virtual ceremony on March 16.

del Toro will be honored alongside Jane Campion, Nicole Holofcener, Danny Strong, Jeymes Samuel, and Ashley Lyle & Bart Nickerson.

del Toro, whose current film is Nightmare Alley, will be presented with the Hall of Fame Award, honoring a writer whose body of work has had a profound influence on the industry.

The inaugural Trailblazer Award will go to Oscar-winning filmmaker Campion who is currently winning much acclaim for her latest film The Power of the Dog; the honor recognizes a writer whose career exudes excellence and who consistently tells compelling and bold stories.

Two Storyteller Awards will be presented recognizing writers who consistently maintain a level of excellence and surpass expectations. Academy Award nominee Holofcener will receive the Storyteller Award (Film) for The Last Duel, on which she collaborated with stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Two-time Emmy winner Strong will receive the Storyteller Award (TV) for the limited series Dopesick, currently streaming on Hulu. Additionally, Final Draft will present two New Voice Awards recognizing rising and vital talents in the industry: The New Voice Award (TV) to Lyle and Nickerson, the husband-and-wife writer-producer team behind Showtime’s Yellowjackets, and The New Voice Award (Film) to Samuel whose feature debut The Harder They Fall is currently streaming on Netflix.

“Storytellers have been revered throughout history for their ability to connect us,” Final Draft president Shelly Mellott said Wednesday. “This year’s honorees are using their considerable talents to tell brave, audacious stories in imaginative ways that entertain, provoke and enlighten audiences. We could not be more proud to honor them and their outstanding work and the impact their stories have on our culture.”

Final Draft, the screenwriting software company, has previously honored the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Nancy Meyers, Aaron Sorkin, Lawrence Kasdan, Paul Schrader, Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, Callie Khouri, Steven Zaillian, Robert Towne, Oliver Stone and Sydney Pollack, among others.

The Storyteller Award was introduced in 2021 and was presented to Steve McQueen and Sofia Coppola. The New Voice Award was introduced in 2017 with recipients including Ramy Yousef, Steven Canals, Lulu Wang, Liz Hannah, Issa Rae, Boots Riley, Radha Blank and Tanya Saracho.

Oscar Isaac Attached to Star in Sony Pictures’ Film Adaptation of Konami’s “Metal Gear Solid” Video Game

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar Isaac has landed a solid role…

Sony Pictures’ long-awaited Metal Gear Solid adaptation looks to have gained some major momentum as the 41-year-old Guatemalan & Cuban actor has been attached to play Solid Snake in the film.

The film is currently in development at Sony with Jordan Vogt-Roberts on board to direct.

The film is based on the Metal Gear Solid video game created by Hideo Kojima and published by Konami. The script is written by Derek Connolly. Avi Arad is producing. Peter Kang is the executive overseeing for the studio.

The game was first launched on PlayStation in 1998 and follows Snake, a soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from Foxhound, a renegade special forces unit. The game has received acclaimed on many fronts, but its storytelling that has a cinematic feel always made it seem like a movie adaptation was inevitable.

Given Isaac’s extremely busy schedule, a production start date is still unknown, but his involvement makes the property a high priority for the studio going forward. As for Isaac, Metal Gear Solid could give him another major franchise, having already starred in the most recent Star Wars franchise.

Even as the industry slowly gets back into production due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Isaac has been busy setting his future slate in recent months. He is set to star in HBO’s Scenes From a Marriage opposite Jessica Chastain, followed by playing the title role in Marvel’s Moon Knight for Disney+.

Isaac will next be seen in the much-anticipated reboot of Dune and Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter. He’s also set to star in and produce the adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn’s Ex Machina comic retitled The Great Machine and star in Barry Levinson’s Francis and The Godfather, alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.

Oscar Isaac In Negotiations to Star as Title Character in Marvel & Disney+’s Comic Book-Based Series “Moon Knight”

Posted on October 26, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar Isaac is a (Moon) Knight in shining armor…

The 41-year-old Guatemalan & Cuban actor is in talks to star as the title character in Marvel Cinematic Universe’s comic book hero Moon Knight, the Marvel and Disney+ series based on the comic.

Jeremy Slater, who developed and wrote Netflix’s series adaptation of The Umbrella Academy comic books, has been tapped to develop and lead the writing team on the series for the streamer.

Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector, is a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight.

Marvel and Disney+ now will look to attach a director to the series. No production start date has been set. Marvel had no comment.

Marvel and Disney+ have been ramping up their development slate as Isaac joins Tatiana Maslany, who was recently tapped to play She-Hulk, and Iman Vellani, who was named the new Ms. Marvel. As WandaVision, eyes a premiere date before the end of the year, the studios are looking to have a strong set of characters to lead these new tentpole series.

With his time as Poe Dameron in the Star Wars franchise coming to an end, Isaac is not slowing down any time soon. When audiences head back to theaters, he has a number of films set to bow that include the Paul Schrader thriller The Card Counter as well as Denis Villeneuve’s retelling of Dune.

He recently signed on to the HBO limited series Scenes from a Marriage at HBO, reuniting with his old Julliard classmate Jessica Chastain.

Oscar Isaac to Star in HBO’s Adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s “Scenes From a Marriage”

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar Isaac is going to the chapel…

HBO has given a green light to Scenes From a Marriage, a limited series adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s classic miniseries, starring the 41-year-old Guatemalan & Cuban actorand Michelle Williams.

The project hails from Hagai Levi, Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res and Endeavor Content.

Written and directed by Levi, the series adaptation re-examines the show’s iconic depiction of love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage and divorce through the lens of a contemporary American couple, played by Isaac and Williams.

Ingmar Bergman wrote and directed the original 1973 Swedish miniseries Scenes From A Marriage, which starred Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson. Bergman’s teleplay, the story of a disintegration of a marriage, drew on his own experiences, including his relationship with Ullmann.

Isaac, star of the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, will next be seen starring in the Dune reboot, an adaption of the bestselling novel of the same name by Frank Herbert. He’s also set to star in James Gray’s period drama Armageddon Time, alongside Robert De Niro, Donald Sutherland, Anne Hathaway and Cate Blanchett and Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter, with Martin Scorsese executive producing.

Isaac is set to produce Lionsgate’s upcoming film London,under his Mad Gene Media Banner, with Ben Stiller set to direct. He’s also set to star in and produce the adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn’s Ex Machina comic retitled The Great Machine.

Oscar Isaac to Star in the Revenge Thriller “The Card Counter”

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

There’s a new role in the Cards for Oscar Isaac.

The 40-year-old Guatemalan and Cuban actor will lead the cast of Paul Schrader’s revenge thriller The Card Counter.

Based on an original screenplay by Schrader, the film sees Isaac star as William Tell, a gambler and former serviceman who sets out to reform a young man seeking revenge on a mutual enemy from their past.

Braxton Pope, who previously worked with Schrader on The Canyons, is producing the film with Lauren Mann. William Olsson and David Wulf will executive produce.

Shooting is set for early 2020.

Isaac’s previous credits include appearances as X-wing pilot Poe Dameronin the Star Wars sequel trilogy, X-Men: Apocalypse, Ex Machina and A Most Violent Year.

Yazpik to Headline Indie Film “The Jesuit”

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

José María Yazpik is heading south of the border for a thrilling revenge mission…

The 41-year-old Mexican actor has been cast as the lead in Alfonso Pineda Ulloa’s indie film The Jesuit.

Written bythe film centers on a man called “The Jesuit” who has been imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. When his wife is killed and his son kidnapped and taken to Mexico, he devises a dangerous plan to rescue his son and avenge his wife’s death.

Shannyn Sossamon will play the woman Yazpik’s character hires to masquerade as his wife during his revenge mission.

Yazpik, most recently starred in Diego Luna’s Abel and just finished work opposite Penelope Cruz in Pedro Almodóvar’s newly named comedy Brief Lovers.

His previous credits include Beverly Hills Chihuahua, The Burning Plain and Borderland.

The Jesuit is set to begin filming this month in Mexico.

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