by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
EMPTY-HANDED: Neither of two Spanish-language nominated films won in the foreign language category at the Golden Globe awards held Jan. 17 in Beverly Hills. The award went to the German film The White Ribbon. It bested the entries from Spain and Chile – Pedro Almodóvar’s Los abrazos rotos and Sebastián Silva’s La nana. It was the sixth Golden Globe nomination for Almodóvar, who has won the award twice. La nana was the first film from Chile ever nominated. A third nomination did not bring a win, either. Spanish actress Penélope Cruz had been nominated in the best supporting category for the film Nine. That award went to Mo’Nique, for Precious.
BACK TO BROADWAY: Antonio Banderas is due to return to the New York stage in a revival of the musical Zorba, according to a story in the New York Post. It would be the Spanish actor’s first performance on Broadway since his Tony-nominated turn in the 2003 revival of Nine. The paper did not offer details as to when the musical would open or in what theater. It would be the second time Banderas would take over a role made famous by another Latino actor. The 1982 original production starred Puerto Rican Raúl Juliá and although the original Zorba on Broadway was Herschel Bernardi, the namesake character was most famously portrayed on film and in a 1983 Broadway revival by Mexican Anthony Quinn.
ONE LINERS: Olga Tañón has asked the U.S. government to grant visas to Cuban athletes expected to compete in the Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe to take place in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, this summer; the Puerto Rican singer has been asked to compose and perform the international athletic competition’s theme song… actress LaLa Vásquez said on The Wendy Williams Show she will marry Denver Nuggets small forward Carmelo Anthony after the NBA finals. The couple have a two-year-old son…. and Ricky Martin and Carlos Santana are among presenters scheduled to appear at the Jan. 31 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.