Spanglish Media recently released the movie “Bezos: The Beginning”, the first-ever biopic made about Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s early days. The movie is executive produced by Warner Bros. alum Trace De La Torre, an award-winning multimedia producer and entertainment executive with over 10 years of industry experience, starting at Warner Bros. Studios. She is the founder and CEO of Trace Entertainment, an independent production company encompassing Art, Film, E-Publishing, Comics, and AR/VR content. She is an executive producer on the feature film “Bezos: The Beginning”, and the upcoming feature film “The 8th Year”, a female-led suspense thriller by director Ed King III.
Based on the book, “Zero to Hero”, the story of Jeff Bezos by Tashena Ebanks, the film follows 31-year-old Jeffrey Bezos, a successful Wall Street hedge fund manager at D.E. Shaw who brazenly quits his job to launch his dream of creating the world’s largest online book store. He sets out on a cross-country trek with his wife Mackenzie, making a pit stop for seed money from his Houston-based parents, Miguel “Mike” and Jackie Bezos. Jeff and Mackenzie settle into 90s life in the tech mecca of Seattle setting up shop at home in their garage with two hard-working techies. As a start-up like many from that era, we see Bezos facing mounting challenges to find investors and plagued by endless obstacles in the lead-up to launching his website. Of note, is a bare-knuckle face-off with nemesis Leonard Riggio (played brilliantly by Kevin Sorbo), CEO and largest shareholder of Barnes & Noble, the largest retail bookstore at that time, and how Jeff handles the fall-out.
“Our film is an altruistic POV based on the inspirational book, “Zero to Hero”, by Tashena Ebanks. It was a bit of a puzzler marketing-wise because the media has written Jeff more in the vein of Zero-to-Hero-to-VILLAIN”, said De La Torre. “This is not that kind of film. It is an homage to the relentless spirit of capitalism and the sheer grit it takes to make anything happen in America. It is also a story about a family with an inside peek at how the unyielding drive to excel impacts relationships, friendships, and ultimately, business partnerships. I’m very proud of our narrative and what our production team accomplished on a shoestring budget. I think we all felt a kinship with Jeff in the making of this film given all the challenges we faced in filming during the pandemic. Armando Gutierrez does a riveting job capturing a glimmer of Jeff’s dark side,” added De La Torre. “If there is ever a sequel, that’s a narrative I’d love to explore!”
Other notable actors appearing in the movie include Grammy-Award Winner Emilio Estefan (husband of Gloria Estefan) as Bezos’s Dad Miguel Bezos, Kevin Sorbo (Hercules: The Legendary Adventures) as Barnes and Noble CEO Leonard Reggio the Bezos antagonist, Alexandra Mitchell (An American Murder Mystery) as Bezos’s influential wife, Jevon White (Thunder Force and Startup) as Nico Lovejoy the remaining original employee of Amazon, Sasha Andreev (Phasma Ex Machina) as Amazon’s second employee Paul Davis, and a cameo from UFC Champion Jorge Masvidal.
About “Bezos: The Beginning”:
Written by Allison Burnett & RV Romero (Autumn in New York and Underworld Awakening). Directed by Khoa Le (Walt Before Mickey). Executive Producers Trace De La Torre, Emilio Estefan, Peter A. Lees, Nick Friedman, Kory Apton, Richard Booth, Kristian Juanas, Omar Soliman, Marcus Lemonis, Produced by Armando Gutierrez and Alberto De La Cruz, all bring to life this entrepreneurial story of grit, resilience, and startup life set in the 90s.
Upcoming Projects from Trace De La Torre: The horror-thriller “Craving” from famed horror director Jason Horton releasing in March 2023; the dramatic action film “Prey of Wrath” from Indonesian action producer Benny Tjandra, starring martial artist icon Cynthia Rothrock; the female-led suspense-thriller “The 8th Year” from director Ed King III with production set in Vancouver in early 2023; “TITO” a biopic from renown actor/producer Damon Whitaker, written by David Guzman on Puerto Rican-American musical icon Tito Puente best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions from his 50-year career. His most famous song is “Oye Como Va.” He is a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. And finally, there is “MC/Master of Ceremony,” also from actor/producer Damon Whitaker and his production company, One House Media. Written by David Guzman, “MC” is a biopic about the 80’s break dancing scene, of which David Guzman was a pivotal player, and subsequent icon. Projected release date to coincide with the 2024 Paris Olympics, where break dancing has been added as an official Olympic category.
