Pantelion Films, a partnership between Lionsgate Entertainment and Grupo Televisa, is the first major Latino Hollywood studio. They’re working hard on their first film CASA DE MI PADRE (“My Father’s House”), an homage to classic westerns and telenovels. The choice of lead actor may surprise though- Will Ferrell?
The full synopsis: Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch in Mexico his entire life. As the ranch encounters financial difficulties, Armando’s younger brother Raul (Diego Luna) shows up with his new fiancée, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). It seems that Raul’s success as an international businessman means the ranch’s troubles are over as he pledges to settle all debts his father has incurred. But when Armando falls for Sonia, and Raul’s business dealings turn out to be less than legit, all hell breaks loose as they find themselves in a war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord, the mighty Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal).
Matt Piedmont, director of Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die shorts, will make this his first feature film. It’s shot entirely in Spanish, which surely was a challenge for the star and director, both of whom are as white as the driven snow. Even Piedmont himself joked that their “collective knowledge of the Spanish language amounts to what we learned during a half-hour Learning Annex class taken the night before production of the film began.”
CASA DI MI PADRE will hit theaters March 16th 2012.