Focus Features to Release Rosie Perez’s Zombie Movie “The Dead Don’t Die” in June

Rosie Perez is preparing for the Dead days of summer…

Focus Features will release Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die, starring the 54-year-old Puerto Rican actress,wide on June 14 this year.

Rosie Perez

Billed as “the greatest zombie cast ever disassembled”, The Dead Don’t Die boasts an all-star cast of Perez, Bill Murray, Adam DriverTilda SwintonChloë Sevigny, Steve BuscemiDanny GloverCaleb Landry JonesIggy PopSara DriverRZASelena GomezCarol Kane and Tom Waits

Jarmusch writes and directs the film his third with Focus Features. The studio previously released the filmmaker’s highest-grossing pic in his canon, 2005’s Broken Flowers starring Bill Murray which made $13.7M.

Focus Features and Universal Pictures Internationalwill distribute the film worldwide.

Trejo to Participate in This Year’s Red Nose Day Special on NBC

It’s a Rudolph-like moment for Danny Trejo

The 72-year-old Mexican American actor, best known for portraying villains and anti-heroes, has signed on for NBC’s Red Nose Day Special.

Danny Trejo

The fundraiser, which aims to help lift kids out of poverty, will be broadcast live on May 26 from 9:00 – 11:oo pm ET on NBC.

The special, hosted by Craig Ferguson, features comedy, musical performances and short films that shed light on children in need here at home and around the world.

Also scheduled to make an appearance on the special are Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tony Hale, Iwan Rheon, Sterling K. Brown, Yvette Nicole Brown, Margot Robbie, Jane Lynch, Connie Britton, Jay Pharaoh, Mayim BialikEllen DeGeneres, Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Sarah Silverman, Tracy Morgan, Key & Peele, Anna Kendrick, Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Ellie Kemper, along with Kristen Bell, Emma Watson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Rose Byrne, Blake Griffin, Emma Thompson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Steve Buscemi, Adam Devine and Ron Funches. Additional talent will be announced at a later date.

Created by Oscar nominee and Emmy-winning writer-director Richard Curtis, the idea of Red Nose Day was built upon the foundation that mass media and celebrities can help raise money and awareness of poverty to save and change millions of lives.

Red Nose Day has raised more than $1 billion globally in the last 25 years, and in the UK has become a cultural phenomenon where people across the country come together to have fun, raise money and change lives.

Red Nose Day launched in the U.S. in 2015, and raised more than $23 million, with the money now at work in all 50 states and 15 countries internationally through programs to keep children and young people safe, healthy and educated.

del Toro to Receive Heart of Sarajevo Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival

Benicio del Toro has a little extra heart…

The 48-year-old Puerto Rican actor, an Academy Award and Golden Globe winner, will receive the Heart of Sarajevo Award for his contribution to the art of cinema at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival.

Benicio del Toro

Previous recipients for the award, which was designed by French designer, filmmaker and festival patron Agnes B, include Angelina Jolie, Gael Garcia Bernal and Steve Buscemi.

del Toro will present Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s drama A Perfect Day, in which he has a starring role alongside Tim Robbins and Olga Kurylenko, at the festival’s open-air screening venue, where del Toro will receive the award in front of a 3,000-strong crowd. The film premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

The actor will also hold a master class for the participants of Talents Sarajevo, a networking and training platform for emerging film professionals from South-East Europe and the Southern Caucasus.

del Toro won an Academy Award for supporting actor for his role in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, and an Oscar nomination for his work in Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s 21 Grams.

Reteaming with Soderbergh to star in Che, the biography of Che Guevera, del Toro’s performance won him the best actor award at Cannes in 2008.

Del Toro can be seen next starring in Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario, alongside Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin, which is scheduled for a September 18 release by Lionsgate in the U.S.

First Trailer Released for Gomez’s “Hotel Transylvania 2”

Selena Gomez is sinking her teeth into motherhood…

Sony Pictures Animation has released the first trailer for the 22-year-old half-Mexican American actress/singer’s Hotel Transylvania 2, the ghoulish sequel to the 2012 animated film.

Selena Gomez

Much has changed since the first film. Hotel Transylvania now allows human guests as well as beasties, and there’s a new little monster toddling around — but is he really a vampire?

Drac (Adam Sandler) is the proud new grandpa of the surprisingly redheaded boy of Mavis and Johnny (Gomez, Andy Samberg). When they threaten to move from Transylvania to California, the fang gang goes to work on stopping such nonsense.

Mel Brooks joins the cast as Vlad, Drac’s old-school father who is none too pleased about the goings-on. Also back for another killing are voice stars including Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Kevin James, Fran Drescher and Molly Shannon.

Hotel Transylvania 2 opens in theaters on September 25.

IFC Renews Armisen’s “Portlandia” for Two More Seasons

Fred Armisen will spend two more years in the Pacific Northwest…

IFC has picked up the 48-year-old half-Venezuelan actor’s short-based comedy series Portlandia.

Fred Armisen Portlandia

The an absurdist series that gently pokes fun at the laid-back city of Portland, Oregon, has been picked up for Seasons 6 and 7, with IFC ordering 10 half-hour episodes for each.

Armisen, a Saturday Night Live alum, and Carrie Brownstein, the show’s creators and stars, will remain at the helm for both seasons. Portlandia is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video.

Season 5 of Portlandia airs Thursdays at 10 PM.

Vanessa Bayer, Ed Begley Jr., Steve Buscemi, Jeff Goldblum, Kyle MacLachlan, Kumail Nanjiani, Jason Sudeikis, Gus Van Sant and Olivia Wilde are among the recurring guest stars who’ve guest-starred on the show over the years.

Armisen to Direct a Kings of Leon Concert for American Express Unstaged

Fred Armisen is preparing to work with music royalty

The 46-year-old half-Venezuelan actor/comedian and former Saturday Night Live star is set to direct a Kings of Leon show next month for the American Express Unstaged series, according to the Associated Press.

Fred Armisen

The Portlandia star, who recently ended his SNL run after 11 years, has previously directed music videos and is himself a drummer and musician.

Armisen wrapped up his SNL run as his memorable punk character Ian Rubbish along with former Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon, J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and former Sleater-Kinney guitarist and vocalist (and his Portlandia co-star) Carrie Brownstein, among others.

The Kings of Leon concert will take place on August 9th at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London, and will be streamed by YouTube and Vevo.

It will mark the 13th entry in the American Express Unstaged series; the series’ last show featured Steve Buscemi directing Vampire Weekend, which had Armisen open as Ian Rubbish.

Kings of Leon’s next album, Mechanical Bull, will be out September 24th.

Disney/Pixar Releases Final “Monsters University” Trailer Featuring Molina & Plaza

It’s time for a little higher education for Alfred Molina and Aubrey Plaza

Disney and Pixar have released the final trailer for Monsters University, which features the 60-year-old Spanish actor and the 28-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress as part of incoming class of 2013.

Monsters University

The prequel to Monsters, Inc. focuses on Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) as they study to become “scarers.”

Along with Molina, Plaza, Crystal and Goodman, the voice cast Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Dave Foley, Sean P. Hayes, Charlie Day, Nathan Fillion, John Krasinski and Bonnie Hunt.

Directed by Dan Scanlon, Monsters University opens nationwide on June 21.

International Trailer Released for “Monsters University,” Featuring Molina’s New Character

He played the villainous Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2… And, now Alfred Molina will be portraying a more animated monster.

The 59-year-old half-Spanish actor, who recently starred in TNT’s medical drama Monday Mornings, is lending his voice to Disney/Pixar’s Monsters University, which just saw its international trailer released.

Monsters University Professor Knight

Molina will voice the character of Professor Knight in the prequel to Monsters, Inc., which focuses on Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) as they study to become “scarers.”

In addition to Molina, the film introduces Helen Mirren’s Dean Hardscrabble. Steve Buscemi, John Krasinski and Nathan Fillion also star.

Monsters University opens in the U.S. on June 21.

Cannavale Headed to HBO’s Bowardwalk Empire

After guest-starring on Modern Family and Nurse Jackie, Bobby Cannavale is officially heading back to television. Only this time he’ll a regular on a Golden-Globe winning dramatic series.

The 41-year-old half-Cuban American actor has joined HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. He’ll star as Gyp Rosetti, who is described as “a charming but ruthless gangster who challenges Steve Buscemi’s character Nucky,” in the hit period drama.

Bobby Cannavale Modern Family

Cannavale’s casting comes just months after Boardwalk Empire’s sophomore season saw the series kill off Michael Pitt‘s well-likd character Jimmy Darmody—a former confidant-turned-rival for Nucky.

The Emmy-winning actor’s hiring will now provide a high-profile counterpart to Buscemi.

Boardwalk Empire, which HBO renewed for a third season in October, recently won a second Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding ensemble in a drama series.

Cannavale recently completed production on his upcoming 10-episode arc on Showtime‘s Nurse Jackie and he recently wrapped shooting on the film Lovelace with Amanda Seyfried.

In addition, he co-starred with Chris Rock on Broadway’s The Motherf—er With the Hat, snagging a Tony Award nomination for his work.