Prime Video Renews Roberta Collindrez’s “A League of Their Own” for Second & Final Season

Posted on March 16, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Roberta Collindrez will have more time in the batting cage…

Prime Video has renewed A League of Their Own, starring the 36-year-old Mexican actor and writer, for a second and final season.

Following months of talks with Sony TV, the series will end with a four-episode Season 2, sources have confirmed.

The hourlong series, created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson, is an adaptation of Penny Marshall’s 1992 film.

It follows the formation of the WWII-era women’s professional baseball team, weaving in the experiences of both diverse and queer women at the center — earning the show a cult following.

Jacobson also stars alongside Chanté Adams, D’Arcy Carden, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Collindrez, Kelly McCormack, Priscilla Delgado, Molly Ephraim, Kate Berlant, Melanie Field, Nick Offerman, Rosie O’Donnell, Patrick J. Adams, Patrice Covington, Sadiah Ekulona, Lea Robinson, Andia Winslow, Rae Gray and Lil Frex.

Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television produce in association with Field Trip Productions. The series is co-created and executive produced by Graham and Jacobson.

The first season was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award, NAACP Image Award and Independent Spirit Award for Ikumelo for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series.

Lionsgate Acquires Domestic Rights to Eiza Gonzalez’s World War II Film “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Eiza González is bringing the warfare to the United States…

Lionsgate has picked up the domestic distribution rights to Guy Ritchie’s World War II film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, starring the 33-year-old Mexican actress/singer.

In addition to Gonzalez, the film also stars Henry Cavill, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer and Cary Elwes, among others.

The studio is targeting a 2024 wide theatrical release.

Prime Video has secured most of the international rights for the film, distributing across Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India and pan-Asian pay TV.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is billed as an “outrageous true story” about U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s and James Bond author Ian Fleming’s secret WWII combat organization.

As per a synopsis, “this clandestine squad’s unconventional and entirely ‘ungentlemanly’ fighting techniques against the Nazis significantly changed the course of the war and gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit.”

Principal photography begins on Monday in Turkey. Acknowledging the devastating earthquake that has ravaged parts of the country, Ritchie and the producers noted that the shoot will take place “several hundred miles from the epicenter” of the disaster.

“We do so with profound sympathy for everyone affected,” said Ritchie in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the members of our crew with family in the region. We wish to express our sincere condolences to the people of Turkey. We stand by them and are committed to supporting members of our production team and the wider community over the coming weeks and months.”

The film’s script is from Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, Arash Amel and Ritchie, and based on war correspondent and military historian Damien Lewis’ best-selling book of the same name. Tamasy and Johnson initiated the project and sold it as a pitch to Bruckheimer and Paramount in 2015.

Jerry Bruckheimer will produce alongside Chad Oman, Ritchie’s producing partner Ivan Atkinson, and John Friedberg for Black Bear International.

Nacho Vigalondo Casts Henry Golding as Lead in His Upcoming Sci-Fi Romance “Daniela Forever”

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Nacho Vigalondo has found his star…

Henry Golding will star in the sci-fi romance Daniela Forever, a new film from the Spanish filmmaker.

XYZ is financing the film and launching for sales at the EFM.

Daniela Forever, which is set to shoot in Madrid, Spain, this spring/summer, will see Golding play a man struggling to come to terms with the sudden death of his girlfriend in an accident six months prior. So, he signs up for a sleep trial that allows him to reconstruct his life with her through the use of lucid dreams.

Nahikari Ipiña and Nacho Vigalondo are producing at Sayaka Producciones, along with Benoit Roland at Wrong Men, Leire Apellaniz at Señor y Señora, and XYZ Films.

“This movie is built around a deeply human character trapped in twisted plot, something Henry Golding is so perfect for this almost feels unreal,” said Vigalondo. “I’m enthusiastic about the team gathered around this project, and I hope the story delivers everything I want to say about love, dreams and Madrid.”

“We’re thrilled to be a part of this project. Nacho and Henry are a dream fit for what promises to be an unforgettable film,” said XYZ.

Golding just wrapped filming Netflix’s Old Guard 2 opposite Charlize Theron and Uma Thurman, and played a lead role in thriller Assassin Club for Paramount. Next up he is re-teaming with Guy Ritchie in the WW2 pic Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Nacho Vigalondo is best known for Timecrimes, Extraterrestrial and Colossal starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis.

Eiza González to Star in the World War II Action Spy Film “The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare”

Posted on October 29, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

The spy’s the limit for Eiza González…

The 32-year-old Mexican actress and singer will star in the World War II action spy film The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Gonzalez will star opposite Henry Cavill in the film from Guy Ritchie and Jerry Bruckheimer.

Ritchie will direct the project as his next film, with filming expected to begin in Turkey in January.

The film, inspired by real events, will chart United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s and James Bond scribe Ian Fleming’s secret WWII combat organization. The clandestine squad’s unconventional and entirely ‘ungentlemanly’ fighting techniques against the Nazis helped change the course of the war and in part gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit.

The project was initially in development at Paramount through Bruckheimer’s first look deal, but the studio will not be distributing the film. Black Bear is reportedly in active discussions regarding U.S. distribution and international deals.

The script, by Ritchie and Arash Amel, is based on war correspondent and military historian Damien Lewis’ popular book of the same name.

González, who most recently seen in Michael Bay’s Ambulance, will play a military sniper with extraordinary spy-craft abilities.

She will next be see in Netflix’s sci-fi film The Three Body Problem and Scott Z Burns’ Extrapolations for Apple TV+.

Cattleya Producciones Acquires Rights to Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s Novel “The Italian” with Plans to Adapt as a Miniseries

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It appears another of Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novels is coming to life…

ITV Studios-owned Spanish drama house Cattleya Producciones has acquired the rights to the 70-year-old Spanish novelist and journalist’s bestselling novel El Italiano and will adapt it as a miniseries.

Inspired by real events, El Italiano is a story of love, spies and the sea set at the height of World War II in the Bay of Algeciras, where Italian combat divers are causing chaos among the Allied forces.

Arturo Díaz, Managing Director and Executive Producer of Cattleya Producciones, and Ricardo Tozzi, founder and President of Cattleya, are leafing the project.

Cattleya Producciones is searching for an international cast to bring El Italiano‘s Spanish, Italian and English characters to life.

Screenwriter Beto Marini, co-creator of Movistar+ series La Unidad and feature films such as Retribution and Extinction is adapting the story.

Pérez-Reverte was trained in underwater activities at Spain’s Centro de Buceo de la Armada (Navy Diving Center) in Cartagena in the late 1960s and part of El Italiano comes from a story told to him by his father when he was a child.

“I’m positive that this series from Cattleya, whose productions I have always admired for their quality, will be faithful to the story I wrote,” he said.

Pérez-Reverte’s previous work La Reina del Sur (2002), about a Mexican woman who becomes a leader of a drug trafficking cartel in the south of Spain, was adapted into a Spanish-language telenovela starring Kate del Castillo, and later an English-language series (Queen of the South) starring Alice Braga.

Jayro Bustamante to Direct World War II Drama “Down Wind”

Posted on May 22, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Jayro Bustamante is heading down wind…

The 45-year-old Guatemalan film director and screenwriter, whose most recent film La Llorona made the Oscar international film shortlist, is partnering with Panama’s award-winning Hypatia Films and Jonathan Keasey of Mind Riot Entertainment to make the World War II drama Down Wind.

The film marks a rare collaboration between two major Central American filmmakers and an American writer-producer.

Bustamante will direct based on a screenplay by Keasey, who has also boarded as a producer.

The drama’s lead production company, Hypatia Films, run by Pituka Ortega Heilbron and Marcela Heilbron, is an associate producer on Claire Denis’ Cannes Film Festival competition contender The Stars at Noon, which was filmed in Panama and on which Hypatia provided production services.

Inspired by true events, Down Wind (a working title) is sourced from an article concerning incidents that transpired in the U.S. Southwest towards the end of World War II.

Ortega Heilbron who hopes to shoot the film on location in New Mexico and tap its robust incentives.

For Bustamante, for what would be his first film in English, albeit with some Spanish dialogue, the idea of making Down Wind immediately appealed to him.

“My career has always been tied to themes of discrimination against indigenous people,” said Bustamante, who’s in post on his fourth film and prepping his fifth.

Amazon Acquires Jennifer Lopez-Produced Skydance TV Series “Backwards in Heels”

Posted on March 29, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a moment of heels-ing for Jennifer Lopez.

Amazon has acquired the Skydance TV series Backwards in Heels, produced by the 52-year-old Puerto Rican superstar, off the table.

The series will be written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and follows the aspirational and timeless story about the glamorous women living at the Barbizon Hotel in post-WWII New York City.

Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Benny Medina will produce under their Nuyorican Productions. Julie Goldstein is also producing.

The Barbizon Hotel, located at 140 East 63rd St. on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, was for several decades a female-only residential hotel for young women who came to NYC for professional opportunities.

Built in 1927, the 23-story hotel was a blend of Italian Renaissance and late Gothic revival and Islamic decorative elements.

No men were allowed above the ground floor, and strict dress and conduct rules were enforced. Men began to be admitted as guests in 1981.

Famous guests and residents throughout its history included Lauren Bacall, Betty Buckley, Joan Crawford, Rita Hayworth and Grace Kelly, among several others.

Lopez was honored with the Icon Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards last week. She recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of her breakout movie Selena, in which she played the Tejano legend.

The actress’ recent romantic comedy feature Marry Me was one of the most viewed movies ever on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service, approaching 6M accounts. Before the pandemic, her crime caper feature Hustlers ranked as her highest-grossing live-action movie of her career at the domestic B.O. with $105M, and her biggest opening ever with $33M.

Lopez and her Nuyorican Productions are teaming with Skydance and Concord to develop a slate of original projects based on the latter’s catalog of musicals, which includes the works of Broadway icons Rodgers & Hammerstein.

She next is starring and producing the Netflix movies The Mother and Atlas.

Noah Centineo to Star Opposite Dwayne Johnson in New Line/DC’s “Black Adam”

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Noah Centineo is splitting atoms…

The 24-year-old part-Puerto Rican actor and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before star has joined New Line/DC’s Dwayne Johnson film Black Adam.

Centineo will play Atom Smasher, a character who can control his molecular structure with the ability to manipulate his size, strength and durability.

Jaume Collet-Serra, who also directed Johnson in Disney’s Jungle Cruise is directing from a script by Adam Sztykiel.

Black Adam, which is set to shoot in Georgia during early 2021, will be part of the first-ever DC FanDome event on August 22.

Centineo will next appear in the World War II drama The Diary and To All the Boys 3.

Centineo is also a founder of Favored Nations, a non-profit organization committed to social change.

Wilmer Valderrama Acquires Rights to Dave Gutierrez’s WWII Book “Patriots from the Barrio”

Posted on September 30, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a Patriots mission for Wilmer Valderrama…

The 37-year-old Colombian and Venezuelan American actor/producer and former That ’70s Show star and his WV Entertainment have acquired film and television rights to Patriots from the Barrio, Dave Gutierrez’s 2014 book that delves into the history of a segregated U.S. Army combat unit comprised entirely of Mexican Americans from South Texas that was part of the first division to set foot in Europe in World War II.

Gutierrez’s book came about while he was researching a relative, Ramon G. Gutierrez, who during the war was captured and escaped twice, both times able to make it back across Allied lines. He later received the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts, and the Soviet Union gave him the Order of the Patriotic War. His Company E in the 36th Division fought in Italy at San Pietro in the Liri Valley, and in 1944 was nearly wiped out in the Battle of Ripaldo River, one of the U.S. Army’s biggest losses of WWII.

“During Hispanic Heritage Month, this story is especially timely, and I’m honored as a proud Latin American to amplify the courage and contributions of these incredible men,” Valderrama said.

Valderrama, who joined as a regular on CBS’ NCIS last year, also has the animated film Charming coming next year on which his WV Entertainment serves as a producer.

“Fury,” Starring Brad Pitt & Michael Peña, to Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Peña is bringing a little Fury to Londontown…

The tank drama Fury, starring Brad Pitt and the 38-year-old Mexican American actor, will rumble into the United Kingdom on October 19 for its European premiere as the closing film at the BFI London Film Festival.

No word on whether Peña will attend the festivities. But Pitt and the film’s writer and director David Ayer have been confirmed to attend the closing night gala at London’s Leicester Square, with simultaneous screenings taking place in cinemas across the UK.

“Fury is a resounding cinematic achievement,” said BFI London Film Festival Director Clare Stewart. “Rarely is a film so successful at balancing the human drama o war with such thrilling action sequences. We looking forward to welcoming LFF alumni David Ayer and Brad Pitt to London as we draw the 58th BFI London Film Festival to a monumental close.”

Ayer, whose End of Watch, which also starred Peña, screened at the festival in 2012, said it was a “great honor” to be chosen for the closing night.

“It’s a true pleasure to be returning to England, where we shot the film – the fields of Oxfordshire and Bovingdon Airfield in Hertfordshire were our home for 12 weeks last year, so it’s something of a homecoming for us to present the movie at its European premiere,” he said. “I’m thrilled that festival audiences will be among the first in Europe to see it.”

Fury sees Pitt play a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy, in command of a U.S. Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a mission behind enemy lines as the allies make their final push against Germany in 1945.

In addition to Pitt and Peña, the film also stars Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Jason Isaacs and Scott Eastwood.

It is due for release in the U.S. on October 17, having recently been moved by Sony Pictures from a November 14 slot.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: WWII