EXCLUSIVE: Just off the set of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and recently seen in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip opposite Eva Longoria, Jesse Garcia’s star continues to rise.
Deadline can reveal a first image of the U.S. actor with co-star Jess Weixler (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story) in upcoming crime drama Tender.
The film which completed principal photograph in L.A. is the feature directorial debut of Adam Hoelzel who also wrote the screenplay. He previously took writing credits on drug-smuggling thriller (Beast of Burden), starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Tender follows a couple trapped in a failing marriage and drowning in debt who discover a hidden stash of gold buried within the walls of their home. What begins as a lifeline quickly spirals into danger, as the pair devise a high stakes plan to offload the fortune and escape their financial ruin.
Shakira Barrera (Marvel’s Ironheart), David Koechner (Anchorman) and Emmy-nominee Sonja O’Hara (Doomsday) also feature in the cast.
Key crew include cinematographer Antonio Cisneros, who shot the film on vintage Soviet Lomo lenses, also used recently on films such as Anora and Poor Things.
“Antonio is a maverick. I knew that I wanted this film to live in the shadowy grit of Gordon Willis’ atmospheric 70s thrillers and I was thrilled to capture Tender on lenses that have been a favorite of directors from Tarkovsky to Lanthimos,” said Hoelzel.
Further cast members include stars Robert Longstreet (The Fall of the House of Usher), Mark St. Cyr (The Menu), Keli Price (Murder at Hollow Creek), Stephen Ellis (Abbott Elementary), Robert Peters (Lincoln), and Alexander Cubis (Tyler Perry’s Ruthless).
O’Hara, Sofia Rovaletti (Mid-Century), Farrell Ingle, Theo Bucksey, Roy Hsu (Cheap AF), and Grayson Hay are producing, alongside Corey Moosa (Margin Call), David Hopwood (Power), Michael K. Dwyer’s A Group of Ferrets, and Juan Pablo Reinoso’s Firebook Entertainment.
Hoelzel is represented by UTA, Range Media Partners, and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Garcia by Independent Artist Group, Mosaic, and attorney Mark Wetzstein; Wexler by Gersh and Mosaic; Longstreet by Clear Talent Group and Authentic.
Barrera is represented by Innovative Artists, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; O’Hara by Verve, Gotham Group, and Fox Rothschild, St. Cyr by Authentic; Price by Established Artists and Yorn, Levine, Barnes; Ellis by Master Talent Agency, Collier Talent, DiSante Frank & Company, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes; and Cubis by Singular Talent and Symmetry.