Written by Roberto Leal

Since its streaming-only debut on HBO Max during Father’s Day Weekend, Father of the Bride has grown into a critically acclaimed mega-hit not only in Latin America, but world-wide. HBO proudly announced that Father of the Bride categorically has had the largest viewing audience of any streaming-only movie on their platform to date.

So why has this third retelling of a popular iconic family romantic comedy struck such a resounding emotional chord globally? What’s in the secret salsa of this wildly popular and successful film? Let’s check out some of the special ingredients that went into the making of Father of the Bride.

The Latino Reimagining

Father of the Bride has been described as a “reboot” or a “remake”, of the classic 1950 original Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor or the subsequent 1991 remake with Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Martin Short. The only common thread connecting the three films is the basic plot and the title of the movie. 

As written by Matt Lopez (Race to Witch Mountain, Bedtime Stories) and directed by Gary Alazraki(Club de Cuervos, We Are the Nobles) this incarnation of Father of the Bride is not a reboot in the sense they took an old existing movie and simply replaced the old cast with an all Latino one. Additionally, the vision of both Lopez and Alazraki in Father of the Bride was told through the cultural lens of two vibrant Latino communities in the U.S. The Cuban-American and Mexican take on the story make it more than just a mere remake but rather a complete reimagining and creation of a unique, standalone story.

Authentic storytelling from the top creatives who happen to be Latino and know the culture is not lost at all in the success of this film.

Lopez and Alazraki also cleverly start the story with what is often referred to as a “McGuffin” which is an object or device in a movie that serves merely as a trigger for the plot. In this case, the McGuffin is the opening scene in which Billy Herrera played by Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Eleven, The Godfather, Part III) and his wife of 30+ years, Ingrid played Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman and seven-time Grammy winner, Gloria Estefan, decide in one of their marriage counseling session to divorce. 

This turns on the emotional current that influences Billy’s reaction to his daughter, Sophie, Adria Arjona (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Emerald City) who comes home announcing she has proposed and will marry Adan Castillo a Mexican EMO man played by Diego Boneta (Terminator Dark Fate, Luis Miguel: The Series). The couple plans to move to Mexico to work at non-profit which helps immigrants along the border.

The Cuban/Mexican Culture Clash

The wedding surprise announcement set off Billy’s traditional protective and cautionary Cuban sensibilities on how the wedding will proceed. His cultural alarm bells are further set off when he meets his future in-laws from Mexico.

The oft-heard claim that Latinos are not a monolith is brought into sharp scrutiny in Father of the Bride in a playful, tongue-in-cheek comic clash of cultures between Mexico and Cuba that delightfully stands every stereotypical portrayal of Latinos on its collective head.

Sophie’s fiancé Adan is the complete antithesis of the stereotypical macho Mexican male. He practices yoga, is a tree-hugger, doesn’t like sports, wears glasses and looks more European than mestizo.

Adan’s flamboyant father, Hernan Castillo, Pedro Damián (Showtime, Like, la leyenda), turns out to be to Billy’s surprise, a bombastic but affable, multi-millionaire business tycoon who owns a super luxury yacht that is so big it has five zip codes and three time zones. Hernan also has a very young trophy wife and child, but still maintains a relationship with his ex-wife. These are different but positive Latino representations rarely seen in Hollywood movies.

Unstereotypical Matters, Matter

Garcia’ career has mostly veered from playing the typical Hollywood Latino stereotypes, but it is a practice that has negatively affected the image of U.S. Latinos around the world and that is an important issue to Garcia. He sees Father of the Bride as a movie that moves the needle forward in the right direction.

“There was both an honor and an obligation to deliver a story that’s within the Latin cultures, in this case, the Cuban and the Mexican, trying to relate to one another,” Garcia told Entertainment Weekly in trying to make the point of the importance in the representation of Latinos in film.  “There’s an obligation to do it right without stereotypes that represent universal themes”

Comedic Chemistry 

The on-screen chemistry and comedic timing between Garcia and Estefan are the result of a 30-year personal friendship and growing up in the Cuban-American culture of Miami. Estefan, who has won more Grammys than the NY Yankees have won World Series proves herself to be as good an actress as she is a singer. As Ingrid, Estefan is strong, funny and loving. Garcia, as the stubborn, tradition-bound, conservative Cuban who came to America as an exile and became the most sought-after architect in Miami, now feels his world crumbling around him. It’s a role and performance Garcia has grown into as an actor. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Billy Herrera or being married to anyone other than Gloria Estefan as his beloved Ingrid.

Father of the Bride ReDux

Because of its enormous popularity and streaming numbers after just one week in release, there is already talk of a sequel to Father of the Bride.  In the current film Cora  (Isabela Merced (Transformers: The Last Knight, Instant Family) Billy’s younger daughter designed and designed the wedding and bridesmaid dresses for Sophie’s wedding. The sequel could have Cora designing her own wedding gown for her nuptials. The question is, will Billy Herrera have the energy and financial wherewithal in  Father of the Bride 2 for another wedding?  One can only hope so.

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Father of the Bride is currently streaming on HBO Max.

The post Film Review:  Five Reasons ‘Father of the Bride’ Is a Hit first appeared on .

As the first series casting director, Los Angeles-based Rocha is part of a new executive trio that will focus on recruiting talent for content for the world’s largest streamer. The other two directors are Brittany Grooms in film and Rich Leist in unscripted projects. 

The recent announcement, penned by the three new casting directors, highlights a global talent search. “The next breakout stars can come from anywhere – and we want to find them.”

Netflix may be the world’s largest streamer, global production and distribution powerhouse that keeps reshaping Hollywood and international TV and film, but it never had its own casting department. Although first expanding into the content-production business with its first series House of Cards in 2013. Since then it has produced hundreds of scripted series in the U.S. and abroad, with many more in production and development, many in Spanish and other languages.

That means Rocha could potentially get very busy. “So excited for this next chapter at Netflix,” he posted on his LinkedIn page after Netflix made the announcement earlier this July. 

The Miami native is not new to Netflix. He was working for the streamer as an outside casting director for non-English series and films, according to a company press release, though no credit titles are listed. His LinkedIn page says he served as a Netflix casting manager for “local language originals” for nearly two-and-a-half years until April of 2021 when he reportedly assumed his new post. 

Before joining Netflix, Rocha worked as director of casting at CBS Corporation for a little over a year and. Before that, he was also a casting director for more than eight years with the New York-based Telsey + Company. There he worked in various projects like Cirque Du Soleil’s Paramour, The Bridges Of Madison County The Musical National Tour, Pump Boys and Dinettes and West Side Story at Paper Mill Playhouse, Wicked, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Into The Woods with Meryl Streep and Smash on NBC, according to his bio on the website for Broadway Artists Intensive, a training project that listed him as a faculty member.

The Miami native is an alumnus of the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music in the theatre design and production program concentrating in stage management. 

Netflix’s creation of its dedicated casting department comes at a critical moment when the platform is increasing its portfolio of film productions as other media companies have launched their own streaming platforms, from NBC’s Peacock to Disney+ to HBO Max, in addition to established streamers like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. 

While Netflix has a long list of TV series offerings, the company has only recently entered film production. Netflix has only produced a handful of completed films, like the full features A Classic Horror Story, Kitty Love: An Homage to Cats and Kane Chronicles and the short doc Injustice System, all dated 2021. But many more are in the pipeline. Netflix is also currently producing another ten films with about 18 more in development, the latter including Atlas, starring and produced by Jennifer Lopez.

Furthermore, the streamer is betting on video gaming. Netflix is reportedly planning to extend its intellectual property in this field and harvest data to figure out what users want. And there is hope that Nextflix games could spawn Netflix films or series. 

That means Rocha and casting colleagues might have their work would be cut out for for them.

“Casting is a crucial part of the creative process,” says Rocha. In a joint statement Rocha, Grooms and Leist also said in a joint statement. “It’s about casting the widest net possible and finding the perfect person for a role. At Netflix, we’re always thrilled to champion new talent from around the world to introduce to our global audience, from Orange Is the New Black to The Old Guard and Bridgerton.” Adding, “We want to discover new and authentic voices from underrepresented communities, and help our existing talent find their next great opportunity with us.”

In their statement, they also highlight some Latino and African talent and projects. “Our new casting department means that we will have more time and resources dedicated to identifying these kinds of opportunities – finding breakouts like Alejandro Speitzer, who has worked on three of our Mexican local language series, El Club, Dark Desire and Someone Has to Die and Pearl Thusi, who’s gone from our South African series Queen Sono to our upcoming film Wu Assassins: Fists of Vengeance.”

Other highlights include Mexico’s Diego Boneta of Luis Miguel: The Series and Andres Baida of Who Killed Sara? and Brazil’s Larissa Manoela of Airplane Mode and Leandro Hassum of Just Another Christmas.

Featured Photos: Cesar Rocha, Netflix series casting director / Netflix logo (Credit: Netflix)

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Co-starring with Boneta, the Mexican actor of Luis Miguel La Serie are Alexandra Daddario, Justin Chatwin, Wade Allain-Marcus, Billy Crudup, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Travis Fimmel.

The film is directed by Collin Schiffli, who helmed Animals, an indie film that won a Special Jury Award for Narrative Feature at SXSW Film Festival.

In Die in a Gunfight, Mary (Daddario) and Ben (Boneta) are the star-crossed black sheep of two powerful families engaged in a centuries-long feud–and they are about to reignite an affair after many years apart. 

The screenplay is by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, who co-wrote Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Die in a Gunfight is set for release in select theaters, on digital and on-demand July 16, 2021.

Featured Photo: Alexandra Daddario and Diego Boneta in ‘Die in Gunfight’

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It was recently announced that El Gato Negro comic book, created by Richard Dominguez, is coming to Apple TV. Set in South Texas, the comic book tells the story of two crime-fighting characters El Gato Negro, a luchador and his grandson Francisco Guerrero who avenge the death of Francisco’s best friend by drug-smugglers with all the twists and turns along the way. 

Robert Rodriguez, best known for Once Upon a Time in Mexico, has signed on to direct and executive produce the series along with singer and actor Diego Boneta (Rock of Ages)  who is set to play Francisco and is producing the series through his company Three Amigos. MGM Television is in the early development phase of the project; Joel Novoa will co-produce.

Boneta has been developing this project for a while, and it was losing stream until he met up with writer Eric Carrasco (Supergirl) during San Diego Comic-Con, whose pitch infused new energy into the project. In addition, Boneta’s long-standing relationship with MGM (Luis Miguel series) and Rodriguez clout, is just what the project needed to get off the ground.

El Gato Negro, rooted deeply in Latinx culture, with its comedy and dramatics, is just what America needs as we face unprecedented racism against our Latinx community. A release date hasn’t been announced.

The post Robert Rodriguez, Diego Boneta Bring Comic Book Series “El Gato Negro” to Apple TV first appeared on .

The long awaited follow up to James Cameron‘s original 1984 blockbuster ‘Terminator‘ has finally arrived. Or at least a handful of sneak-peek images from the forthcoming sci-fi action film have, that were exclusively released at CinemaCon.

We are delighted to get proof positive verification that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton are back reprising their legendary roles as The Terminator (T800) and Sarah Connor, respectively! The film is being helmed by Deadpool (2016) director Tim Miller and produced by Cameron, and is currently in post production.

There is also very welcome news that there are three Latins—yes, three (!)—in the principal cast who are integrally central to the movie and get some serious screen time in this fall tentpole release: Natalia Reyes as Dani Ramos, Diego Boneta, whose name and identity in the film is still not being revealed, and Gabriel Luna, who is a modern Terminator in the film. Rounding out the cast of newcomers is Mackenzie Davis who looks like a badass straight out the box!

Natalia Reyes is a Colombian actress. Diego Andrés González Boneta (Diego Boneta) is a Mexican national born in Mexico City (where we hear the film opens). Gabriel Luna hails from Austin, Texas. All these are welcome fresh talent/faces who are taking the stage in what is their most high profile roles to date, and will undoubtedly push them into the next level of their careers. And we couldn’t be happier to see our likeness reflected off the shiny morphing metallic skins of the deadly Terminators!

The buzz after the reveal of the still images and five minutes of footage showcased at CinemaCon during the Paramount sponsored panel is high and positive.

In 2015 Paramount Pictures swung hard for the fences with “Terminator Genisys” but was left standing at the plate after the film performed dismally at the boxoffice. Now the studio is looking to revive the franchise, and redeem itself for its previous faux pas by utilizing the star power and nostalgia from its seminal films, ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day.’ On that front, ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ is skipping over the content produced after Judgment Day, as well as the The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series. As fans of the first two films, needless to say, we’re hoping for an out-of-the-park  home-run this time around, and we think Miller has the gravitas to score a hit!

‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ crashes into theaters on November. 1, 2019

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Dominguez conceived El Gato Negro in the mid-to-late ’80s and in 1993 and printed 5,000 comic books which sold out within two months

El Gato Negro was created or “born” when I was sketching on my notebook paper and in binders during (when I was supposed to be taking notes) classes in a community college…He was originally supposed to be a member of an all-Hispanic superhero group which I called “Team Tejas”. I later became partial [to] this particular character and put my emphasis on him and put the rest of the team in the “backburner”           — Richard Dominguez

In an interview in Deadline, Boneta said of collaborating with his friend Mark Burnett (Burnett executive produced Luis Miguel: La Serie where Boneta played the lead), and MGM. “I know that bringing this Latin superhero-led series to the screen is a great responsibility and a huge challenge, but I couldn’t have a better partner than MGM.”

Boneta is repped by UTA in the U.S. and Jorge Mondragon in Mexico City.

The post Diego Boneta Stars and Will Executive Produce Richard Dominguez’s “El Gato Negro” With MGM first appeared on .