Guillermo del Toro and Jorge R. Gutierrez
Director Jorge Gutierrez and producer Guillermo del Toro are bringing together a remarkable cast–plenty of them Latino–to provide the voices for The Book of Life
What will become of young Manolo? He’s torn between following his heart and fulfilling the expectation of his family…but he’s pretty much guaranteed to find his way during the perils and pleasure of adventures on three “fantastical worlds”…and with the help of characters voiced by a wide range of Latino talents.
Jorge R. Gutierrez has designed characters for Mucha Lucha! and produced his own 26-episode series of El Tigre that have a decided Latino flavor; much of that is certain to creep into his first feature length film, schedule for release in late 2014.
And what an array of Latino voices he’s gathered. You’ll hear Zoë Saldaña, Diego Luna, Kate del Castillo, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Hector Elizondo, Ana de la Reguera, Eugenio Derbez, Gabriel Iglesias, radio personality Richard “El Mandril” Sanchez and even opera legend Placido Domingo, as well as Christina Applegate, Channing Tatum, Ron Perlman and others. Even the film’s original score and songs are by two-time Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain), who is currently touring with the popular Argentine band Bajofondo.
We’ll see if we can dig up some character design’s as release date grows closer, but in the meantime, mark your calendars for October 17, 2014. That’s when Fox will release The Book of Life worldwide. And enjoy a promo for Gutierrez’ earlier work, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny River. It was Nickelodeon’s first original flash animation series, and it rocked:
