The Argentine spin-off of Joe Begos’ alien horror pic “Jimmy and Stiggs” has found its cast and crew.
Read more Costa Rican Below-the-Line Talents to Track
Argentina’s Agostina Palazzolo (“Ciclón), Agustina “Papry” Suásquita (Netflix’s “Envious”) and Maia Tarcic (“Letters to My Ex”) are poised to lead the main cast of “Burger Night: Luli, Magda & Lore.”
Meanwhile, Grupo Morbido’s Pablo Guisa Koestinger is boarding as a producer alongside executive producers Eli Roth, Begos and Meg Thomson.
Director Sebastián De Caro, who optioned the spin-off rights to “Jimmy and Stiggs” not long after it was featured at the industry initiative MorbidoGate IP Showcase, at the Cannes Marché du Film’s Fantastic Pavilion, has assembled a crack team to realize his vision.
“I am thrilled with the cast — these are women of extraordinary talent, true cinema lovers, brave and wild. They are going to surprise everyone. Each one understands her character perfectly and they all fell in love with the original material,” he said.
Filmed on 16mm over four years, largely inside Begos’ Los Angeles apartment, “Jimmy and Stiggs” follows estranged friends Jimmy—an unemployed filmmaker convinced aliens once abducted him—and Stiggs, his now-sober former collaborator, as they reunite to confront what they believe is an imminent extraterrestrial invasion.
More a reimagining than a remake, De Caro’s version follows new characters battling the same extraterrestrial threat in Argentina, taking Begos’ universe in a bold new direction.
Read more Amazon MGM Studios Hires HBO Max’s Pia Barlow as Head of Original Series Marketing
Along with co-writer Matías Orta, he is joined by celebrated genre helmer-scribe Ramiro García Bogliano (“Penumbra”) as a creative producer; director of photography Mariano Suárez, best known for his work on Argentine horror hits “When Evil Lurks” and “Terrified”; production designer Catalina Oliva (“A Singular Crime”) and Federico Ricaldoni (“Rooms for Tourists”) as the local producer, working closely with Guisa and De Caro to anchor the production in Argentina.
“This project was born from two conversations and a cocktail — one with Eli [Roth] over a year ago, and one with Seba [Caro] a few months back. Both were talks between friends who love cinema. Then we presented the IP at the MorbidoGate Showcase and cocktail in Cannes, and today we are announcing the cast and I am boarding as producer. Films are made as a team, but for me genre cinema goes beyond that — it’s made as a family. And in this project, that couldn’t be more true,” said Guisa, who recently attended the Costa Rica Media Market to launch a new initiative supporting Latin American women filmmakers in the genre field, WomanInFan LatAm.
“I am proud to be part of a national project led by such talented women,” said Palazzolo, known to her 9.4 million TikTok followers as La Ardilla and who has also built a hefty presence in theater and radio.
For Suásquita, “Burger Night” marks her first venture into genre cinema. “I feel that genre cinema is the most creative and critical genre of our time. As an actress, this is a challenging project, full of adrenaline, that allows me to work for the first time in a different language — one that belongs to the genre, where limits shift and creativity expands.”
“Everyone grew up watching movies about aliens landing in the United States. But what happens when they land in Argentina? That, for me, is what makes this project most stimulating. Not just being part of a genre film, but participating in a creative challenge that is quite unusual for Argentine cinema,” said Tarcic who brings her varied experience as an actress, director, screenwriter, poet and writer to the project.
“Jimmy and Stiggs” premiered at Los Angeles’ Beyond Fest in 2024 before rolling out nationwide in U.S. theaters in August 2025 via The Horror Section, Roth’s newly launched genre banner.
Read more Andrés Madrigal Explores Costa Rica’s Little-Known Queer History Through Personal Doc ‘Lost Men’