by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
Mike Elizalde
HOPEFUL TRIO: Three Latinos with Oscar nominations this year are speaking about the possibility of taking an Academy Award.
“I will be nervous’ very nervous,” Mike Elizalde told La Opinion about his candidacy in the makeup category for Hellboy II. In an interview in his Los Angeles studio, the 48-year-old artist from Mazatlan, Mexico, recounts that as a child in Los Angeles’ he becoming fascinated with monsters and special-effect movies.
After a stint in the Marines he worked installing air conditioners, learning makeup techniques on his own and building a portfolio.
Meeting Mexican director Guillermo del Toro was decisive for Elizalde, who has worked on several of del Toro’s films’ including this year’s Oscar nominee. Elizalde is moving with his wife and children to New Zealand this week to work on del Toro’s The Hobbit.
Another nervous nominee is 34-year-old Spanish actress Penélope Cruz, who is most critics’ favorite in the supporting actress category for her performance in Woody Allen’s Vlcky Crlstina Barcelona Whatever happens, I will probably have a few beers, and I don’t drink,” she told The L.A. Times blog Golden Derby. The actress will attend the ceremony with her mother and two siblings. The third Latino nominee Academiais Chile-born cinematographer Claudio Miranda’ for his work in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He also grew up in Los Angeles. He told the EFE news agency that having an architect father was an early influence.
“You never think of how those things influence you when you grow up’ but I know I have taken many ideas from my father, on how not to repeat myself and always do new things”, the 44-year-old said.
The Academy Awards will be handed out in Los Angeles Feb. 22.
NOMINEE: A Panamanian rapper who refuses to drop an offensive name earned 13 nominations for the Billboard Latin Music Awards’ announced Feb. 17 in Miami. The nominee is Flex, who has stayed on top of charts several months with the hit single Te quiero. He uses that name only in the United States. Throughout Latin America he presents himself as Nigga.
The awards, to be handed out April 23 in Coral Gables, Florida’ are part of the yearly Billboard Latin Music Conference. The awards ceremony will be broadcast by Telemundo.
GONE: Joe Cuba, a singer and percussionist who launched the Latin boogaloo craze in the 60s died Feb. 15 in a New York hospital from complications from a bacterial infection. He was 78.
Born in Puerto Rico as Gilberto Miguel Calderón, he adopted the name of Joe Cuba in New York in the 1950s. He formed the Joe Cuba sextet in 1954 -an unusual lineup for Latin music then—and scored several hits that fused R&B and Latin styles. Hispanic Link.
