Rachel Zegler In Talks to Star in Paddington Threequel “Paddington In Peru”

Posted on June 24, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Rachel Zegler is padding(ton) her resume with a new project…

The 22-year-old half-Colombian American Golden Globe-winning actress/singer is in talks to star in the long-awaited movie threequel Paddington In Peru.

The West Side Story star is among a list of cast newcomers that includes Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas and Emily Mortimer.

The quartet will join series favorites Ben Whishaw and Hugh Bonneville, who are set to return.

Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin and Imelda Staunton are also in talks with Studiocanal and producer David Heyman to return for the film, which will film in the UK, Peru, and Colombia with principal photography set for July 24.

Colman will play The Reverend Mother, described as a blithe and sunny guitar-playing nun who runs the Home for Retired Bears. Banderas plays Hunter Cabot, a dashing and intrepid riverboat captain who offers to help the Brown family on their Peruvian adventure. His daughter, Gina Cabot, will be played by Rachel Zegler. Mortimer joins the Brown family as Mrs. Brown, replacing Sally Hawkins, who portrayed the character in Paddington and Paddington 2.

It has been six years since the second film in the hit franchise. Paddington in Peru sees the bear embark on a new adventure that will take him from Windsor Gardens to Peru.

The story will follow Paddington as he returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown Family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon rainforest and up to the mountain peaks of Peru.

Studiocanal is fully backing the movie and will release Paddington in Peru in the UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Australia/New Zealand, and Poland. Sony Pictures holds rights for the rest of the world, excluding Russia, China, and Japan.

Dougal Wilson is directing from a story by Paddington 1 & 2 collaborators Paul King, Simon Farnaby and Mark Burton with the screenplay by Burton, Jon Foster, and James Lamont.

The threequel is being produced by Heyman and Rosie Alison with Rob Silva as co-producer.

The two previous films scored more than $500M between them at the box office and both were BAFTA-nominated.

“I am absolutely delighted to be working with such a wonderful cast on the next installment of the Paddington story,” Wilson said. “I was already an enormous fan of our returning actors, but for them to be joined by Olivia, Antonio, Emily, and Rachel is beyond thrilling.”

Antonio Banderas to Star in Limited Series Based on the Novel “The Monster of Florence: A True Story”

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Banderas is reporting for duty…

The 60-year-old Spanish Oscar-nominated actor will portray an Italian crime reporter in his latest television role.

Banderas, who starred as Pablo Picasso in Nat Geo’s Genius, will play Mario Spezi, a reporter who alongside American fiction writer Douglas Preston, investigated one of the most notorious serial murder cases in Europe.

The limited series project, which comes from Nikolaj Arcel and Anders Thomas Jensen, is in development with Studiocanal.

It is based on Preston and Spezi’s book The Monster of Florence: A True Story, the investigation into a serial killer who killed 14 people between 1974 and 1985 in the Italian province. Preston and Spezi uncovered mistakes made by police in their investigations of the crimes, all of which were tied to young couples killed during romantic rendezvous in the Italian countryside.

Preston and Spezi at one point became entangled in the case and accused by police of crimes associated with the murders.

Arcel and Jensen will write and Arcel will direct.

Banderas and Emanuel Nunez will executive produce.

Rosario Dawson to Star in Apple TV+’s Genre-Bending Auditory Adaptation of Canal+’s “Calls”

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Rosario Dawson is placing some calls…

Apple TV+ announced the cast, which includes the 41-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actress and activist, and set the premiere date for its genre-bending auditory adaptation of Canal Plus’ Calls.

In addition to Dawson, the stars featured in the first season of the nine-part drama, include Nick Jonas, Pedro Pascal, Lily Collins, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Aubrey Plaza are among the stars featuring in the first season of the nine-part drama.

Launching on Friday, March 19, the show uses audio and minimal abstract visuals to tell nine short-form stories. Each episode follows a dark mystery that unfolds through a series of seemingly average, unconnected phone calls that quickly become surreal as the characters face growingly unsettling experiences.

Based on a French series created by Timothée Hochet, it is directed by Fede Álvarez, who directed 2013’s Evil Dead feature and 2016’s horror film Don’t Breathe.

Nicholas Braun, Clancy Brown, Mark Duplass, Karen Gillan, Judy Greer, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, Riley Keough, Joey King, Stephen Lang, Jaeden Martell, Paola Nuñez, Edi Patterson, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz and Jennifer Tilly also appear in the first season.

Calls was the streamer’s first international series order back in June 2018 and it also marks its first global co-production – a tie up with French pay-TV broadcaster Canal+. Apple will launch the series, which is produced with Studiocanal and Bad Hombre, in 100 countries, while Canal+ will premiere a French-language version in a number of markets.

Apple will launch the series in a number of Spanish-speaking Latin America markets as Llamadas with Spanish-language custom graphics.

Pablo Trapero to Direct Lily James in Studiocanal’s Thriller “The Paris Trap”

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Trapero is Trap-ped…

The 48-year-old Argentine filmmaker will direct the thriller The Paris Trapfor Studiocanal.

The Hitchcockian thriller, starring Lily James, revolves around a young American woman on a visit to Paris who becomes the victim of mistaken identity. Caught up in a secret international government operation, she must play the part to save her own life.

James will play the young woman whose character is thrust to the center of the operation and must find her way out of the “trap,” helped by her handler. That role, the co-lead of the film, will be cast shortly.

The script was written by Daniel Taplitz with current revisions by Michael Lesslie.

The Paris Trap will shoot in Paris early next year.

Trapero previously helmed El Clan,which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

He most recently directed the hit international series ZeroZeroZero for Studiocanal, Amazon and Sky TV.

Studiocanal Hires Alberto Corredor to Turn His Acclaimed Short Film “Baghead” into a Full-Length Feature

Posted on November 24, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Alberto Corredoris extending his prized work…

Studiocanal has acquired the Latino filmmaker’s acclaimed creepy horror short film Baghead and will turn it into a feature.

Corredor, who directed the original short, has been pegged to helm the feature.

It centers on a mysterious figure called Baghead, a diminutive wrinkled up person who’s able to manifest the dead and bring them back to our world for short intervals. People seek out the mysterious medium to reconnect with lost loved ones. Once in contact with Baghead however, the title character’s true powers and intentions are revealed and there’s a high price to pay for its contact with the deceased.

The feature transfer will build on that story line and take a Saw-like approach, adding in supernatural elements.

Baghead won numerous awards on the festival circuit, including Best Short Film at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival, Paris International Fantastic Film Festival and San Sebastián Horror and Fantasy Film Festival.

The Picture Company’s Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman will produce under their overall deal with the studio; Vertigo’s Roy Lee, and Alibi’s Jake Wagner will be executive producers along with Corredor and Lorcan Reilly, the duo that created the short.

ABC Gives Straight-to-Series Order to “Take Two,” Starring Eddie Cibrian

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Eddie Cibrian is taking two…

ABC has given a straight-to-series order to Take Two, starring the 44-year-old Cuban American actor and Rachel Bilson.

Created by Castle creator Andrew W. Marlowe and his wife, former Castle executive producer Terri Edda Miller, the series is described as an upbeat procedural.

Written by Marlowe and Miller, stars Bilson as Ella, the former star of a hit cop series who’s fresh-out-of-rehab following a bender of epic proportion. Desperate to restart her career, she talks her way into shadowing rough-and-tumble private investigator Eddie (Cibrian) as research for a potential comeback role. Though lone wolf Eddie resents the babysitting gig, high-spirited Ella proves herself to be surprisingly valuable, drawing on her acting skills and 200 episodes of playing a detective. When the press touts Ella’s role in solving a high-profile case, Eddie finds his phone ringing off the hook with new clients looking to hire the pair.

The project is an international co-production between ABC Studios and StudioCanal’s Tandem Prods. In addition to ABC, the series has been picked up by RTL/VOX in Germany and France Television in France.

Cibrian played Jesse Cardoza on CSI: Miami and most recently was a series regular on Rosewood.

Rodriguez to Direct “Escape From New York” Remake

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Robert Rodriguez is preparing for his big Escape…

The 48-year-old Mexican American filmmaker will direct Escape From New York, the remake of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 film for 20th Century Fox.

The studio won a bidding battle for rights to the reboot in early 2015, with Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman’s The Picture Company set to produce.

Neil Cross is penning the script.

The original was released by Avco Embassy, and the rights were owned by Studiocanal. Carpenter will be an executive producer and have a big say in the tone of the project. Fox’s Mike Ireland, who brought in the movie, will oversee for the studio. The hope is to reinvent the property with an eye toward launching a Planet Of The Apes-like franchise.

The deal cements the relationship with Rodriguez and Fox; the director just helmed the studio’s Alita: Battle Angel, the film based on Yukito Kishiro’s manga graphic novels that was written by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis. Set in a 26th century dystopian future, the film follows the story of an amnesiac cyborg who, after being rescued from a scrap heap by a doctor, becomes a bounty hunter tracking down criminals. Rosa Salazar and Christoph Waltz star in the film, which has a July 20, 2018 release date mapped out.

The cynical original Escape From New York, hatched by Carpenter after the Watergate scandal, was set in a futuristic Gotham circa 1997. Kurt Russell played Snake Plissken, an eyepatch-sporting tough guy who is conscripted to rescue the President of the United States after Air Force One — en route to a summit that could head off World War III — goes missing after it crashes in New York, which has been relegated to a maximum security prison. Plissken, a former special forces operative convicted of trying to rob the Federal Reserve, is given 22 hours to liberate the president and a tape he carries which holds the key to peace. If he fails, he’s wired to explode.

Rodriguez and Carpenter have collaborated before. Rodriguez’s El Rey Network last fall announced the launch of The People’s Network Showcase, a series of specials featuring short films from emerging indie filmmakers. Carpenter hosted the premiere episode, The People’s Network Showcase: Horror Edition.

Open Road Films to Release Bardem’s “The Gunman” in February

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Javier Bardem’s latest feature film is heading to theaters in early 2015…

Open Road Films has scheduled The Gunman, starring the 45-year-old Spanish actor and Sean Penn, to open in theaters in the Unted States on February 20, 2015.

Directed by Pierre Morel, the action thriller stars Penn as a former Special Forces soldier and military contractor suffering from PTSD. He tries to reconnect with his long-time love, but first must go on the run from London to Barcelona and acrossEurope in order to clear his name.

The Gunman was acquired by Open Road earlier this month.

In addition to Penn and Bardem,the film also Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance and Jasmine Trinca.

Studiocanal, which has the rights to distribute the film in its home territories, will first release The Gunman on February 18 in France, followed by Australia and New Zealand on February 19.

It will time the United Kingdom release to the U.S. on February 20 and open in Germany a week later on February 26.

The Gunman had originally been slated for a December 2014 release in France, but a switch was reportedly made to accommodate a closer day-and-date with the U.S.

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