Gravitas Ventures Acquires North American Rights to Adrian Martinez’s Feature Directorial Debut Film “iGilbert”

Adrian Martinez’s latest project will be heading to a theater near you…

Gravitas Ventures has acquired the North American rights to iGilbert, the Latino actor’s feature directorial debut film, in which he also stars.

Adrian MartinezMartinez appears alongside Dascha Polanco (In the HeightsOrange Is the New Black) and Raùl Castillo (Army of the DeadWe the Animals).

The indie distributor will release the drama in theaters and on demand on December 31.

iGilbert centers on Gilbert Gonzalez (Martinez), who feels isolated from the world. He is 39, a virgin, obese and lives with his sarcastic, overprotective mother, who owns the Manhattan brownstone.  Fearful of life and people, yet starving for human connection, Gilbert takes photos of women secretly, wherever and whenever he can. Enter Jana (Polanco), a tenant in the building and the source of innumerable fantasies.

Jana is a contradiction – beautiful but haunted by her own insecurities that inhibit her from standing up to her ex-boyfriend Tony (Castillo), an Iraq war vet with PTSD. Gilbert dreams of rescuing her, but doesn’t believe she could ever love him, especially if she knew about all the secret photos. This love triangle becomes a battle for human connection, which is increasingly difficult in our digital and disconnected world.

Martinez produced the film alongside Cynthia Hargrave, also exec producing alongside Jose Rivera.

Martinez’s previous acting credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm, Stumptown, The Blacklist and Gotham.

Raúl Castillo to Star in Elegance Bratton’s “The Inspection”

Raúl Castillo is ready for an inspection…

The 43-year-old Mexican American actor has joined the cast of Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection starring Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union from A24 and Gamechanger Films.

Raul Castillo

The film, written by Bratton and based on his own life, will begin shooting later this summer. Bratton just won an Independent Spirit Award for his documentary Pier Kids.

Effie T. Brown will produce and co-finance on behalf of Gamechanger Films. A24 will co-finance and handle worldwide distribution on the film. Chester Algernal Gordon will produce via their Freedom Principle shingle.

Castillo was most recently seen in Netflix’s Army of the Dead and Wrath of Manwhich is still in theaters and also has Mother/Android coming up on Hulu as well as Night Teeth on Netflix.

Raúl Castillo to Star in Netflix’s Thriller “Night Teeth”

Raúl Castillois showing his teeth

The 42-year-old Mexican American actor has been cast in Netflix’s thriller film Night Teeth, directed by Adam Randall.

Castillo joins a cast that includes Jorge Lendeborg Jr.Debby Ryan, Lucy Fry and Alfie Allen

Scripted by Brent Dillon, the youth-driven thriller with a genre twist focuses on one evening in L.A. Lendeborg Jr stars as a young chauffeur who drives two beautiful young women to five different parties and finds himself fighting for his life after he discovers they’re not who they claim to be. This is a film about three young people stuck together for the night. Within the confines of this vehicle, it’s the changing relationships; the suspicion, attraction and threat are all part of it.

Castillo’s previous credits include appearances on HBO’s Looking, Netflix’s Atypical and Gotham.

Starz to Premiere Season 2 of Melissa Barrera’s Series “Vida” in May

Melissa Barrerais returning to lifethis May…

Starz has set Thursday, May 23 for the season 2 premiere of its critically praised series Vida, starring the 28-year-old Mexican actress and singer.

Melissa Barrera

All 10 half-hour episodes will be available on the Starz app and Starz On-Demandin the U.S. and Canada and on StarzPlay in the UK and Germany. 

The series will broadcast its linear premiere Sunday, May 26 at 8 PM, airing weekly for the following nine weeks. Vida Season 2 will make its world premiere as an Official Selectionof the upcoming 2019Tribeca Film Festival.

Created and executive produced by Tanya Saracho, Vida stars Barrera, Mishel PradaSer Anzoategui, Chelsea RendonCarlos Mirandaand recently announced Roberta ColindrezRaúl Castilloand Adrian Gonzalezjoin as guest stars this season.

Lyn and Emma begin the monumental task of rebuilding their mother’s business while navigating financial constraints, competing developers, and the growing anti-gentrification movement. Lyn and Emma must contemplate the relationships in their lives, including their own, and are forced to dig deep to unearth what their mother’s legacy means to them.

Hispanic-household viewing of Vida has nearly tripled since its premiere on Sunday, May 6, 2018, growing by 171% to earn the series the largest Hispanic audience composition for premium series in 2018, according to Starz. Additionally, on the Starz app, the series audience grew by more than 60% from the season premiere to the finale.

Raúl Castillo to Star in the Detective Film “Knives Out”

The knives are out for Raúl Castillo

The 41-year-old Mexican American has joined the cast of Rian Johnson’s starry detective movie Knives Out.

Raul Castillo

Riki LindhomeEdi Patteron,Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Lakeith Stanfield, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Don Johnsonand Jaeden Lieberheralso star in the film, which is now in production in Boston.

Plot details are still under wraps, but the film is said to be a modern day murder mystery in the classic whodunit style.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Johnson has scripted and will direct.

Castillo has recently appeared in the Netflix series Seven Seconds and Atypical. 

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.

Raúl Castillo Lands Recurring Role on Starz’s “Vida”

There’s new life in Raúl Castillo’s career…

The 40-year-old Mexican American actor has landed a recurring role on Starz’s Latinx half-hour series Vida.

Raúl Castillo

From creator/showrunner Tanya Saracho, Vida centers around two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles who couldn’t be more different from each other. Saracho will make her directorial debut in season two, which will delve deeper into the lives of Lyn (Melissa Barrera) and Emma (Mishel Prada), who return home to face the past and secrets left behind by their late mother as they search for their future.

Castillo, rose to acclaim after starring on HBO’s Looking, will portray Baco, the bar’s new handyman with a questionable past.

Meanwhile, Adrian Gonzalez has also landed a recurring role on the show.

The Latino actor will appear as Rudy, an L.A. city councilman who Lyn meets at a gym class.

Production is set to begin in and around the Los Angeles area on the expanded 10-episode second season.

Castillo’s credits include Atypical, Amexicano andWe the Animals; Gonzalez’s credits include Superstore and Your Family or Mine.

In addition to Barrera and Prada, Vida also stars Ser Anzoategui, Chelsea Rendon, Carlos Miranda and Roberta Colindrez.

Saracho executive produces alongside Big Beach Television’s Robin Schwartz, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub with Stephanie Langhoff.

Raúl Castillo to Appear on Season 3 of Netflix’s “One Day At A Time”

It’s a new Day for Raúl Castillo

The 40-year-old Mexican American actor has landed a recurring role on the upcoming third season of Netflix’s One Day At A Time.

Raúl Castillo

Castillo will play Mateo, a dad friend of Penelope’s (Justina Machado) from school, who turns into something more.

A reimagining of Norman Lear’s classic sitcom, One Day at a Time follows three generations of a Cuban-American family navigating the ups and downs of life. A newly-single mom and military veteran journeys through the triumphs and tribulations that come with raising two strong-willed, mega-millennial children, all the while enlisting the “help” of her old-school mother and her building manager-turned-invaluable confidant.

Stephen Tobolowsky, Todd Grinnelland Marcel Ruiz also star.

Norman Lear executive produces, with Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce executive producing and co-showrunning.

One Day at a Time is produced by Sony Television Productions for Netflix.

Castillo, who rose to acclaim on HBO’s Looking, stars as Paps in the film We the Animals, based on the Justin Torres novel and directed by Jeremiah Zagar. He was most recently seen in ensemble series Seven Seconds, Ricky Gervais’ Special Correspondents opposite America Ferrera, Joe Swanberg’s anthology drama series Easy, and the Robia Roshid-created Atypical, all on Netflix.

Netflix Gives Series Order to Callie Hernandez’s Musical Drama “Mixtape”

Callie Hernandez is bringing the music to Netflix

Fox’s pilot Mixtape, starring the Latina actress/singer,is headed to series — at Netflix.

Callie Hernandez

The Internet network has given a 10-episode order to the musical drama starring Hernandez, Jenna Dewan and Madeline Stowe.

The project hails from Quantico creator Josh Safran; Annapurna Pictures; 20th Century Fox Television, which produced the original pilot; and its cable/streaming division Fox 21 Television Studios.

The majority of the cast of the Fox pilot, which was directed by Jesse Peretz, are set to continue. That includes Hernandez, Jahmil French, Dewan, Campbell Scott, Stowe, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Megan Ferguson and Evan Whitten.

The male lead, played in the Fox pilot by Raul Castillo, will be recast, and possibly the child role of his young son. As a result, there will be some reshoots on the pilot, which would be helmed by Peretz subject to availability.

Written by former Smash showrunner Safran, Mixtape is a romantic musical drama that looks at the love stories connecting a diverse, disparate group of people in contemporary Los Angeles through the music that lives inside their hearts and minds.

Hernandez is best known for her roles in Blair WitchAlien: CovenantLa La Land and The Endless.

Raúl Castillo to Star in the Indie Film “El Chicano”

Raúl Castillo has landed a super new role…

The 39-year-old Mexican American actor will star in El Chicano, the indie film directed by Ben Bray (Supergirl) from a script he co-wrote with Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces).

Raúl Castillo

It’s described as a dark, urban-inspired superhero movie, detailing the crime-fighting exploits of the mysterious barrio vigilante known as “El Chicano.”

The film also stars Lucifer star Aimee Garcia, George Lopez and Kate Del Castillo.

David Castaneda, Noel G, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Marco Rodriguez, Sal Lopez, and Mr. Criminal are also among the cast of the film, which is currently in production.

Castillo recurs in the Netflix series Atypical and was cast as a regular in the streaming giant’s upcoming crime drama series Seven Seconds.

Garcia recently wrapped shooting the film What They Had, opposite Michael Shannon and Hilary Swank.

Lopez currently stars in the TVLand sitcom Lopez.

del Castillo stars in the Netflix series Ingobernable.