Showtime Picks Up “Let the Right One In” Vampire Drama Starring Demian Bichir

Demián Bichir’s latest project is on the Right track…

Showtime has picked up to series the Let the Right One In, starring the 58-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated actor, completing the vampire drama’s long journey to the small screen.

Demián Bichir

The project, which also stars Anika Noni Rose, Grace Gummer, Madison Taylor Baez, Kevin Carroll, Ian Foreman and Jacob Buster, hails from Andrew Hinderaker, who wrote the pilot and serves as showrunner; Seith Mann, who directed the pilot and will also direct additional episodes; and Tomorrow Studios, which has been the driver behind the drama in its various incarnations for about seven years.

Inspired by the bestselling 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist and its 2008 Swedish film adaptation, the series is described as an exploration of human frailty, strength and compassion through an elevated genre lens. It centers on Mark (Bichir) and his daughter Eleanor (Baez), whose lives were changed forever 10 years earlier when she was turned into a vampire. Locked in at age 12, perhaps forever, Eleanor lives a closed-in life, able to go out only at night, while her father does his best to provide her with the human blood she needs to stay alive.

The series, which has received a 10-episode order and will go into production in New York City in early 2022, is executive produced by Hinderaker, Mann, and Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements for Tomorrow Studios, a partnership between Adelstein and ITV Studios.

Alissa Bachner serves as co-executive producer, and Bichir is a producer.

Let the Right One In originally was developed by Tomorrow Studios and set up at A&E and A+E Studios in 2015. A year later, it moved to TNT, where a pilot was ordered and cast but did not go to production. That version was closer to the original source material and was described as an eerie drama about a young boy, long tormented by his classmates, who finds solace in a friendship with a charismatic female vampire who appears to be near his age. Tomorrow Studios shopped the project and it ultimately landed at Showtime for redevelopment with a new writer, resulting in the incarnation that went to series.

Diaz to Star in VHI’s Scripted Hip-Hop Series “The Breaks”

Melonie Diaz has landed a real Break

The 32-year-old Puerto Rican actress has joined the cast of VH1’s The Breaks, the network’s new scripted series based on its critically acclaimed hit film that aired earlier this year.

Melonie Diaz

Diaz will portray a new character in the series. She’ll play Damita Alonzo, a writer for a hip New York weekly.

Diaz joins a cast that includes Sinqua WallsAli Ahn, Afton Willamson, Wood Harris, Mack Wilds, Antoine Harris, David Call and Evan Handler.

Inspired by Dan Charnas’ book The Big Payback, a narrative history of the hip-hop business, The Breaks is written, directed and executive produced by Seith Mann with a story by Mann and Charnas.

The film followed three young friends fulfilling their hip hop dreams in New York City in 1990. The series will continue to explore their triumph and heartbreak trying to make their mark in a new and complex hip hop culture.

Diaz’s previous television credits include appearances on Girls, Person of Interest and CSI: Miami.

Wilds to Star in VH1’s Original Hip-Hop Movie “The Breaks”

Tristan Wilds is getting his big break

The 25-year-old part Dominican American actor has been cast in one of the lead roles in VH1’s original hip-hop movie The Breaks.

Tristan Wilds

Wilds will star opposite Wood Harris, Tristan Mack, Afton Williamson, David Call and Antoine Harris in the television movie, which begins production this week for premiere in fall 2015.

Based on Dan Charnas’ non-fiction book The Big Payback: The History Of the Business Of Hip-Hop, The Breaks chronicles the journey of Nikki (Williamson), David (Call) and DeeVee (Wilds), three friends united by their love of hip-hop as they work to make their big mark in the music industry.

Wilds is Daryl “DeeVee” Van Putten, Jr., an aspiring producer on the hunt to find the next big rapper on the come-up. A George Washington University dropout, DeeVee faces constant disappointment and pressure from his dad on his decision to forego his academic career in favor of one in music.

The film is set in 1990 New York City where the music industry’s artists and hustlers intersect in the dance clubs and street corners of the still crime-ridden city.

Seith Mann writes, directs and executive produces the project.

Multiple Grammy-winner DJ Premier will compose the score and serve as executive music producer.