While foreign filmmakers dipping their toes into Hollywood waters can have mixed results, it looks like "Miss Bala" helmer Gerardo Naranjo is off to a great start with his brewing FX series "The Bridge." He's already nabbed Diane Kruger to take on the female lead role, and now he's got her male co-star, and it's an actor we're always keen to see more of.
Oscar nominee Demian Bichir ("A Better Life," "Savages") has bagged the male lead, with Annabeth Gish and Ted Levine also coming on board. A remake of the Scandinavian series "Bron/Broen," the story will focus on El Paso Police Homicide Detective Sonya North (Kruger) and Marco Ruiz, from Mexico, who break down the border to catch a serial killer who's on the loose. Bichir will play the latter character, a family man and good cop in a department corrupted by the drug cartels. Meanwhile, Gish will play a wealthy widow whose husband has recently passed after suffering a heart attack in Mexico, while Levine will play Sonya's boss.
Production on the series will get underway this fall, probably after Kruger wraps her work in the Terrence Malick-produced "Green Blade Rises." So far, we're digging how this one is building and will be eager to see what Naranjo can bring to the small screen. [Deadline]
Demian Bichir and Ted Levine. I'm in.
It'll be interesting to see what they do with Kruger's character. I'm not sure that the Saga character will work in the US and I don't really see Kruger being the kind of actress to pull it off. Although, if the female character is going to be the lead this time around, then big changes are being made. Personally, I felt like the border of Canada/US made more sense if they wanted to adapt this. The differences between US and Mexico seem like a bigger hurdle than necessary for the story.