The documentary will tell the remarkable story of martial arts icon Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez
The Mediapro Studio US & Canada to co-produce The Jet with actor Keanu Reeves and Academy-Award winner Fisher Stevens, will tell the story of Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez, the kickboxing legend who introduced mixed martial arts to the world.
Production on The Jet is currently underway.
Nicknamed for his explosive spinning back kick, Sensei Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez had a profound impact on martial arts in mainstream culture, holding six world titles in five weight divisions and remaining undefeated in his 20+ year Kickboxing career, as well as training and working with the likes of Jackie Chan, Muhammed Ali, Elvis Presley, Mark Wahlberg, Nicole Kidman, Kurt Russell, Patrick Swayze, Nicolas Cage, Michelle Pfeiffer, and many others. As an actor, fight coordinator, and trainer to the stars, he left an indelible mark on modern cinema.
The Jet will be directed by award-winning documentary director, producer, and editor, Jennifer Tiexiera. With her background in actively engaging in thoughtful collaboration with documentary participants, Tiexiera brings considerable experience and unique insight to the project. She directed the three-part series, Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo for HBO which was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Crime and Justice Documentary. Her 2022 film Subject, about the ethics and responsibility inherent in documentary filmmaking, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at Tribeca Film Festival. Her most recent feature documentary Speak just premiered to universally positive reviews at Sundance and was featured in Deadline’s Sundance Studio.
Keanu Reeves and Fisher Stevens will serve as producers, along with Maura Anderson and Zak Kilberg of Highly Flammable, John Scalise and his FAYA Project., and Laura Fernández Espeso of The Mediapro Studio. JC Acosta and Pam Healey are the Executives Producers of The Mediapro Studio. Executive Producers will also include Nancy Weisler, Sol Tryon, Brian Maya, Tiexiera under her Lady & Bird shingle and Chris Quintos Cathcart and Tyler Boehm of Unapologetic Projects.
JC Acosta has said: “The Mediapro Studio team is thrilled to be collaborating with these brilliant creative partners to shine the spotlight on a remarkable athlete who left a lasting impact on global culture through martial arts.”
About THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO:
THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO is the content creation, production and distribution division of GRUP MEDIAPRO. THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO is responsible for producing high-quality projects worldwide, developed in association with renowned talent of national and international prestige, including Paolo Sorrentino, Woody Allen, Isabel Coixet, Ran Tellem, Oliver Stone, Daniel Burman, Fernando León de Aranoa, Iván Escobar, Javier Fesser, Patricio Guzmán, Borja Cobeaga, Diego San José, Marc Cistaré, Manuel Huerga, Ernesto Daranas, Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn, Marc Vigil, Fernando González Molina, Berto Romero, Andreu Buenafuente, Clara Roquet and more. Present in 25 of the group’s 54 offices, THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO produces drama series, films, entertainment programs, short-formats, and documentaries. THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO’s partners include many of the industry’s key networks and streamers, such as HBO, Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, and WarnerMedia. TMS productions have garnered several international awards, including 2 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, 2 Daytime Emmy Awards and multiple Goya awards.
About Highly Flammable:
Oscar-winning and Emmy-winning, multi-hyphenate Fisher Stevens, the producer behind award-winning documentaries THE COVE and TIGER KING, and director of 2023 smash hit BECKHAM (Netflix) and the acclaimed features PALMER (Apple) and BEFORE THE FLOOD (NatGeo), has joined forces with producer Zak Kilberg and producer/director Maura Anderson to form Highly Flammable, a production company with groundbreaking content as explosive as its name. Anderson is an Emmy nominated producer, who has produced documentary series for Netflix, FX, HBO, and Obama’s Higher Ground. She recently co-directed feature documentary KICKBACK about FIFA corruption, and she is in production and development on several feature documentaries as both director and producer. Kilberg’s projects, which include 2021 Golden Globe-winner The Mauritanian and 2019 International Emmy-winner Bellingcat, have been acquired by top distributors worldwide, including Universal, Lionsgate, Netflix, HBO, Showtime, IFC, Amazon Studios, STX, etc., as well as boasting laurels from Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, Hotdocs, IDFA and BAFTA. Brought together by the shared goal of delivering world class, critically acclaimed and commercial content to global audiences, the Highly Flammable creative team also share the desire to make a positive impact on our world through their art.
About Unapologetic Projects: Unapologetic Projects works with underrepresented creators to tell stories about vibrant cultures and multi-dimensional characters. They are changing the traditional financing model by valuing cultural authenticity over star power and name recognition. They believe that all audiences should see themselves on screen.
THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO
Departamento de Comunicación
Belén Frías – belenfrias@mediapro.tv
Cristina Casero – ccasero@mediapro.tv
Ana Díaz Mata -adiazmata@mediapro.tv
Tel: +34 917285740 www.www.themediaprostudio.com