Kate del Castillo's interview with 'The Advocate'

Mexican actress Kate del Castillo shines in K-11, the new prison thriller from director Jules Stewart (the mother of Twilight darling Kristen Stewart and her brother Cameron, who both have cameos in the film). Del Castillo plays a transgender woman named Mousey, who rules her dormitory with an iron, manicured fist. After a successful run on the festival circuit, K-11 is now screening in theaters and available On Demand.

Based on the real-life ward in the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail, the film examines relationships between the gay men and trans women incarcerated for various crimes, then housed in a distinct ward to protect them from violence that might be committed against them in the general population. Del Castillo’s Mousey is captivating and nuanced, by turns sweet and vicious, one moment the villain, the next the victim.

Del Castillo left a prolific television career in her native Mexico to pursue the silver screen in the United States. She’s established herself as a crossover success with leading roles in the Fox Searchlight/Weinstein film Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), to date the highest-grossing Spanish language theatrical release in the United States. She solidified her status with another starring role, in Telemundo’s Queen of the South (La Reina del Sur), a short-form, prime-time telenovela that attracted more than 8.1 million viewers in its first week on the air in 2011, making it the most successful telenovela premiere in the Web’s history, according to the Internet Movie Database.

But Del Castillo’s turn as Mousey in K-11 is arguably her most nuanced English-speaking performance to date. The Advocate spoke with del Castillo about being a nontrans actress playing a transgender character, her international appeal, and what she learned about the LGBT community while in this role.

The Advocate: You were tremendous in the film. What drew you to the role in the first place?

Kate del Castillo: Well, I was thrilled because… when I first read the script, I thought, OK, would I fit here? So I just love the fact that the director, Jules, thought outside the box and asked me, being a woman, to play the role. So that was a first. I was like, Oh, my God, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So I was thrilled. And I talked to Jules a lot, trying to find that masculinity, but there is much more of a femininity that I have to be in touch with. So we worked on that, and I think that was the challenge for me as well as the risk. Because there was this very fine line to cross and not be a cartoon, with a role like that. So I had a lot of fun, and I absolutely adored working with Jules, and a role like this.

And how’s the reaction been when the film screened at festivals? 

It’s a hard movie. It’s a harsh movie. It’s not an easy movie. I think it’s doing very well in the festivals, and people are responding very well. There’s people that will like it and people that won’t like it — it’s just for a certain kind of people, maybe. In a way, because I’m a romantic and I will always be, to me, I think it’s also a love story. It is. So that’s the way I see the movie. I think it’s amazing. I think Jules did an amazing job with her opera prima.

You’ve made the jump from Spanish-speaking television to American film, but do you have any concern about playing a trans character, and how that might be received by some of your Latino fans?

I always like to do different things. As an actor, you’re always just wishing and dreaming about playing different characters. And that’s the way I’ve been doing things since I got here. And I left the soap opera — not only soap opera — but those TV things, in Mexico, and I came here. I was working already, but in different roles, and very different from what I was used to. So I think they love it. And they want to see me in different characters, and change my physicality, and not [be] watching the same Kate as always. I think that’s very nice for my fans.

Were you nervous at all to take on this role? 

Absolutely. But not because of that. We always, as actors, we are very insecure human beings. And of course, I was like, Oh, my God, am I going to be able to deliver it the way it should? Because, again, it’s a very fine line, and I don’t want to insult anybody, you know? It’s very delicate. So of course I was very nervous. And it was a big, big challenge. And I hate to talk good about me, but… You need to be very brave to play a role like that, because it’s a lot of risk.

Did you ever get a chance to visit the actual K-11 ward in L.A.?

I couldn’t because there were a lot of issues. They didn’t want us to go there. It was very hard for us to get there, so I couldn’t. But you know what, we shot the whole film inside a jail that was a real jail [that] they wanted to tear down.  And so the whole place was just scary as hell.

I believe that. When I spoke with director Stewart, she actually said that this was a “feel-good movie.” I was kind of surprised by that, because when I saw the film, I felt more like you — that it was a harsh film. It’s well-done, it’s a powerful film, and it affected me, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a feel-good movie, despite the resolution at the end. But what would you say to encourage folks to watch the film, or what would you like to tell folks before they see the film?

It’s very hard to label the movie with one word. It is a feel-good movie at the end. You know, you have revenge. But it’s also a harsh movie. I don’t know exactly, how can I label it? You just said it. It’s a very powerful film, with very colorful characters. Because it is about the characters in this small world inside a jail, and that we really cannot know about. So I think we learn a lot from the movie, about this place, and transgender human beings that we, unfortunately, don’t know a lot about. It’s there, but we really don’t know anything about them. So answering your question, I don’t know. I would say a very powerful movie in many ways.

Do you have any connections to the LGBT community personally, in your life?

No. Well, now I have a lot of friends [who are] transgender. But I’ve done things, and been a grand marshal at the Los Angeles Grand Bicentennial Parade and Festival [celebrating Mexico’s day of independence, in 2009]. I think they like me, and I love them, even before the movie. I am very happy because I learned a lot.

Mousey is such a fierce character, and I think the way you can flip on a switch between being very sweet and kind of coy to just being brutal, I think that was really impressive and believable for your character. 

Thank you so much, and I appreciate you saying that. Because it was a lot of risk and a big, big challenge for me. So I’m glad that you liked it. And yes, I think that she has those things. You feel sorry for her, and on the other hand, she’s a bitch. She is! So yes, she has that duality, which I love.

Did you do any research on transgender identities before you started filming? 

Yes, I did. I did as much as I could, on the Internet, and now you can do so much. And I remembered that amazing movie, Transamerica. So I tried to contact Felicity Huffman’s vocal coach there [Calpernia Addams and Andrea James] and I did, so she helped me a lot.

Watch Del Castillo interact with costars Goran Visnjic (ER), Jason Mewes (the Jay and Silent Bob series), and D.B. Sweeney in the film’s official trailer, below.

Source Advocate

K-11 featured in 'On the Red Carpet'

Kristen Stewart's mother, Jules Stewart, has made her directorial debut with the independent prison film "K-11," which was supposed to feature the 'Twilight' actress as a transgender inmate, suspected prostitute and rape victim.

The movie stars "ER" alum Goran Visnjic as a businessman who ends up in a GBT unit of a Los Angeles prison without any memory of how he got there. Inside, he deals with a transsexual "ruler" named Mousey as well as many insane cellmates and corrupt guards.

Kristen was supposed to play the supporting character Butterfly, an transgender inmate who was sent to jail for suspected prostitution and later raped by a fellow prisoner. The role went to Portia Doubleday (check out more info about "K-11" on its official website). Kristen ended up having a small part as a secretary, according to Us Weekly, which quoted Jules as saying that that she cast her daughter in the larger role six years ago, when she was shooting the first "Twilight" film, and that she would have done it justice.

"Kristen has a dark side," Jules told the magazine. "Kristen has the edge -- thank God, right?"

"She got really big and we were still really small and I was like, 'Go! Go do 'Snow White,' please, go make those big films honey, that's wonderful!'" Jules told Us Weekly."

Kristen's "Twilight" co-star, Nikki Reed, was also supposed to star in "K-11." She told MTV News in 2009 that she was originally cast as transsexual prostitute Mousy, a role Kate del Castillo ended up playing.

"It's a great project, and obviously I have a lot of faith in Kristen and her mom, Jules Stewart, who wrote the script and is directing it," Reed told the outlet at the time. "Kristen is playing a boy, and I am playing a man who is quite a few years older than she is."

"K-11" opens in select theaters on March 15. Jules talked to the Los Angeles Times about the difficulty in getting the movie made.

"You would think [it] would be really easy to get financiers if [Kristen] was attached, but it wasn't," Jules told the newspaper. "You can't take ['Twilight's'] Bella Swan and put her in jail with a bunch of transvestites and expect people to go, 'Oh yeah, no problem.'"

For the last 25 years, Kristen's mother, a native of Australia, worked as a script supervisor on movies such as "Little Giants," "Mortal Kombat," "Phantom," "Flubber" and "Jingle All The Way" as well as TV shows such as "Picket Fences," "The Practice" and "The Sarah Silverman Program."

Jason Mewes, who plays stoner Jay in many of friend Kevin Smith's comedy films, also appears in "K-11" as an inmate charged with possesion of an illegal substance with intent to deliver. Kristen's brother Cameron, 27, "K-11," also has a part in the movie, which marks his on-screen debut. He plays a prisoner named Sledgehammer.

Source On the Red Carpet

Video: Jules Stewart's interview with Marc Malkin on E! News (LQ)

Jules' interview starts at 0.48mins.

To watch the HD version of this interview and another part, click on the above screen-cap of Jules. (Video interview can't be embedded)

Kristen Stewart may have dropped out of her mom Jules Stewart's directorial debut, K-11, but that doesn't mean she isn't in the film.

Kristen makes a vocal cameo in the film about a businessman, Raymond Saxx (played by Goran Visnjic), who finds himself thrown into the gay and transsexual unit of a Los Angeles jail after he's arrested for drug use.

"We had one role that we couldn't find the right voice for and it's Raymond's secretary," Jules told me at her Libertine Films production offices in L.A. "As he's on the telephone frantically trying to call outside, trying to get information, his secretary answers the phone and talks to him, and that, in fact, is Kristen. It was perfect, because she came in at the very last second and banged it out. It was perfect."

The movie star’s mother manages to find a spot for Kristen Stewart in her directorial debut. Hear about the cool Easter egg..

Kristen had originally signed on to play Butterfly, a young transsexual woman who's in jail for murder.

"The timing was just bad and it also wasn't going to be a Kristen Stewart movie," Jules said. "She would be No. 4 on the list and she was willing to do it, but we acknowledged that the public wasn't willing to let her do that. She would be No. 4 [but] she would always be No. 1. That's really not fair for the other actors that really did drive the story it was better for everybody that she wasn't involved."

In K-11, Katie del Castillo costars as Mousy, an inmate who rules the unit with sex, drugs and violence. Stewart, who also cowrote the screenplay, tried to cast a male actor or a transgendered actress, but couldn't find the right fit. "It was easier to take a woman and ask her to play a man transitioning into a woman than it was to take a man and have him transition into a woman," she said. "I felt that the characters were much more believable and fierce with that feminine side."

Jules' son Cameron has a small role of a jailhouse baddie in the movie.

Nope, he doesn't want the kind of fame his sister has. "He's done a few things and he's willing to do things if it's the right project," Jules explained. "But he's not out there beating the sidewalk trying to get an acting job. He's a grip in the movie industry and he's quite happy doing that and he's quite successful."

She does hope to direct Kristen some day. "I don't think anybody in the hot seat, in the director's chair would turn down the opportunity to work with somebody who is really talented," Jules said.

For now, she's trying to get to the attention she's receiving for K-11 as well as the publicity she has to do for the flick. She's learned what to do—and not to do—when dealing with the press by watching her daughter.

Like?

"Well, not to touch my hair [during interviews], try not to be nervous," Jules said, adding, "I've learned a lot from my daughter. She's really smart and she's really funny and she's got a real solid handle on her position in life, and I really respect her for that. She's solid. She's rooted, really solid. She's an old soul. We love her for that."

Article Source E!Online

Thanks to Twilighters y V for the Youtube. 

Via @KstewAngel 

Show Biz Cafe's write-up about K-11

Click image for larger view

You "La Reina del Sur" telenovela fans are going to love me today! I just got my hands on the exclusive first look character poster of "K-11" with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo!

Jules Stewart, mother to Twilight star Kristen, directs del Castillo in this drama that tells the story of a man's plight after winding up in K-11, the Los Angeles County Jail's transgender inmate unit.

Jules Stewart and K-11 producers are being smart about capitalizing on Latino moviegoers by casting the very talented Kate del Castillo. From what I can gather, this looks like Kate's most challenging role to date where she is showcasing her ability to play very layered characters. Kate is a thespian and in this movie she's unforgettable!

K-11 stars Goran Visnjic (ABC-TV's upcoming "Red Widow", The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, "ER") as Raymond Saxx, a businessman whose drug use leads him to incarceration in the section of the Los Angeles County Jail reserved for LGBT inmates and firmly under the heel of Mousey (Kate Del Castillo, Under the Same Moon), a malicious transgendered inmate.  Saxx has no idea how he got there -- all he knows is he needs to get the hell out...alive and intact. Aggressive cellmates, corrupt officials and his own issues are just a few challenges he deals with while he pieces together a way out of this entirely new brand of hell.

Breaking Glass Pictures and Libertine Films are releasing the movie March 15 theatrically and a VOD release. Fifteen cities around the country are slated to host weeklong theatrical runs of K-11, starting at New York's Cinema Village, Los Angeles' Laemmle NoHo Theater, Phoenix's Film Bar, Columbus' Gateway Film Center, and others on March 15th. The film will be available nationwide on Demand the same day.  Additional runs will follow in cities such as San Diego, San Francisco, Denver and Daytona.

K-11 also stars son Cameron Stewart who makes his film debut in K-11 as Sledgehammer, while daughter Kristen Stewart (Twilight, On the Road) makes a special contribution.

The jail drama movie K-11 opens March 15th, 2013.

Source ShowBizCafe via LibertineFilms

Intandem in the media (Aug/Sept 2012)

1st article, is from the Sunday Express newspaper (UK) August 19.

2nd article, is from Total Film magazine (UK) September issue.

Click each scan for a readable view.

Source Intandem Films

Larry Richman writes about K-11

In a landscape increasingly filled with gritty independent films, here’s one that’s been hotly awaited. K-11 is a drama is set in a special lockup for gay and transgender prisoners in the Los Angeles County prison system. The “K-11″ unit is one place where the proverbial soap drop might take you one step further.

K-11 is the auspicious directorial debut for Jules Stewart, a veteran script supervisor, shooting from her own script. The cast is chock full of recognizable faces, including Goran Visnjic (Beginners, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Kate del Castillo (La Reina del Sur), Portia Doubleday (Youth in Revolt), D.B. Sweeney (Hard Ball), Jason Mewes (Clerks), Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister (The Dark Knight), Tara Buck (True Blood, Justified), and Jules’ son Cameron Stewart. Daughter Kristen has a cameo, as well.

Source Article by  @larry411 thank you, via @K11OfficialFilm 

Scan: K-11 'The Next...One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (Total Film Magazine, UK)

Click on scan for a larger view.

Scan thanks to @LaTuaCantante via @K11OfficialFilm :)

Kate del Castillo: Like Never Before (Telemundo Chicago)

Kate del Castillo surprised her fans in her new film called "K-11", she plays a transsexual named "Mousey".

 The character promises a wide range of emotions, as well as being a man who is transformed into a woman, too heavy-handed controls a section of the central prison of the County of Los Angeles, called precisely "K-11".

 Note that this section exists in real life and is a sector of the prison exclusively for homosexuals and transsexuals.

 The direction of the film by Jules Stewart, who until now had made ​​a career as a screenwriter, but it certainly is most famous for being the mother of Kristen Stewart, star of the film series "Twilight."

 The premiere of "K-11" in the U.S. is scheduled for the upcoming fall season.

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Source telemundochicago