If Jeb Bush can get even tongue-in-cheek cred as an honorary Latino, we might as well go ahead and throw pop music mogul Tommy Mottola in the pot with him. Not only has the former Sony Music capo been largely responsible for the careers of Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, and Shakira, but he also happens to be married to Mexican pop sensation and telenovela superstar, Thalía (his previous marriage to part-Venezuelan diva Mariah Carey also technically qualifies). So, besides his 24-hour job tending to a telenovela queen, what is our man Tommy scheming up these days, 12 years after he left Sony at the top of the game?
According to a recent article in the New York Post, Mr. Mottola has dreamed up The Latin Explosion, an HBO documentary exploring the influence of Latin music on mainstream U.S. culture, and is serving as the project’s executive producer. Narrated by John Leguizamo, The Latin Explosion will feature Mottola’s aforementioned crossover success stories along with Gloria Estefan, Sofía Vergara, Eva Longoria, and George Lopez. Yes, that’s a whole lot of Latin celebrities, but one is left wondering whether Mottola intends to explore the actual history of Latin music on the U.S. charts – going back to Mambo, Boogaloo and the like – or whether he just plans to toot his own horn as the godfather of 90s Latin crossover.
Whatever the case, the doc is slated to premiere sometime in 2016, and may even make an appearance at Sundance before hitting small screens. Also, Leguizamo is reportedly hard at work on the Spanish-language voiceover track for HBO Latino, which begs the questions: has anyone ever heard Johnny Legs speak Spanish? This could be interesting.