Loved ‘Sixteen Candles’ Back In The 80s? Selena Gomez Is Developing A Quinceañera-Themed Spin On It For TV Titled ‘15 Candles’
If you loved “Sixteen Candles” back in the 80s, or even just watched it with your parents recently, you know the iconic film centers on the anxiety of entering adulthood, young love, and all the trials that come with being a teenager. While the movie revolves around a 16th birthday, there’s a new reimagining of the movie that focuses on a quinceañera instead.
Selena Gomez is developing “15 Candles,” a half-hour episode series for Peacock that gets inspired by “Sixteen Candles” to portray the lives of four young Latinas figuring out high school. The series is all about the angst that comes with youth, getting older, and yes — preparing for an upcoming quinceañera.
And just like Molly Ringwald’s character, Sam faces her entire family forgetting her birthday while preparing for her sister’s wedding. ‘15 Candles’ also touches on the theme of feeling invisible.
While the new series will premiere on Peacock, it is co-executive produced by Gomez’s July Moon Productions, Tanya Saracho and Christine Dávila from Ojalá Productions, and Gabriela Revilla Lugo. Meanwhile, the show was co-written by Saracho and Lugo.
Gomez has taken a deep-dive into the world of executive producing for quite a few years now, involved in the production of series like “13 Reasons Why,” “Only Murders In The Building,” and the epic “Selena + Chef” where the actress and singer cooks with a wide-range of chefs. She also produced the Netflix series documentary “Living Undocumented,” which shows undocumented families as they figure out living in the U.S. and this country’s immigration laws.
About producing, Gomez told Variety in September 2020, “being on the other side has been really fun because I get to help be a part of the storytelling and get to help with shaping who these people are.” The Texas-born star also said she was currently “producing 16 projects” and that they were “all in different areas” with material she believes in.
Meanwhile, co-executive producers of ‘15 Candles’ Saracho, Dávila, and Lugo are all Hollywood power players involved in countless productions you might love already.
Saracho produced and co-wrote the Starz series “Vida” about two Mexican-American sisters and has also produced series like “How To Get Away With Murder” and HBO’s “Looking.” Dávila was involved in the executive production of the Netflix comedy series “It’s Bruno!” about a man and his dog Bruno in Brooklyn, and Lugo wrote for the ABC series “A Million Little Things” and was part of the production team for the film “Whiplash.”
