‘Cantinflas’ Star Oscar Jaenada Joins Blake Lively In Sony’s ‘The Shallows’

EXCLUSIVE: Goya Award winner Oscar Jaenada has joined the cast of Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows opposite Blake Lively. The actor is crossing over into the mainstream after bringing beloved Mexican comedic icon Cantinflas to the screen in the 2014 movie of the same name. He has a small, but book-ended role in The Shallows.

Written by Anthony Jaswinski, the story centers on a young woman (Lively) who is grieving the loss her mother and surfing in an isolated area when she gets stranded on a buoy. Things take a turn for the worse when a gigantic great white shark comes between her and the shore. The pic was known as In The Deep when Sony won a bidding war for the spec script in September 2014, and circling Collet-Serra (Non-Stop) in June.

Jaenada, who is in TWC’s 2016 offering Hands Of Stone opposite Robert De Niro, will play Carlos in the film, described as a workman who drives Lively’ character to the beach and then shows up again at the end of the film to check on her. Lynn Harris and Matti Leshem are producing. The film is casting now and have three other small supporting roles that are also for Hispanic actors.

Jaenada won the coveted Goya (Spain’s equivalent of this country’s Academy Award) for his portrayal of Camaron de la Isla, the legendary Spanish flamenco dancer, in 2005’s Camaron: When Flamenco Became Legend.

Cantinflas was Mexico’s 2015 foreign-language Oscar submission. In addition, the actor had a starring role in Pirates Of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and a critically praised appearance in Steven Soderbergh’s Che.

He is repped by Paradigm and Ziffren Brittenham. Jaswinski is also repped by Paradigm.