Julio Peña Joins Amazon MGM's Throttled as Santi Alatorre

Julio Peña has joined Amazon MGM Studios' Throttled as Santi Alatorre.

The casting, reported on 7 October by The Hollywood Reporter, completes the film's central trio. Deadline describes the project as an Amazon MGM racing romance film. The project is described as upcoming, with key creative roles now filled.

Santi is the older brother of Maya Alatorre, played by Nicole Wallace. His teammate and fiercest rival is Noah Slade, played by Josh Heuston. Noah falls into a forbidden romance with Maya. The family tie sits at the centre of the story. It puts Santi on both sides of the rivalry.

A teammate rivalry in motor sport means sharing a garage while fighting for the same wins. That is the on-track set-up here. Sports romance, as a category, pairs that athletic competition with relationship drama. Viewers do not need prior knowledge to follow it.

Wallace and Heuston were previously announced as the film's leads. Heuston is familiar to streaming viewers from Off Campus, as Deadline noted in September. Peña now joins them as the third point of the triangle. Three names. One tangled line-up.

The film is based on Lauren Asher's 2020 book Throttled. It is the first of four books in her Dirty Air sports romance series. The series follows racing drivers and the people closest to them. An adaptation, in industry terms, means turning that book into a screen story.

Nzingha Stewart is set to direct. Melissa Osborne will adapt the script. The director guides performance and the look of the film. The writer shapes the book for the screen. That structure is common for book adaptations.

The credits are organised around two production companies. Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks of Brownstone Productions are producing. Garrett Grant is also producing, alongside Jennifer Gibgot and Andrew Panay of Ethea Entertainment. Alison Small of Brownstone and author Asher are executive producing, which means overseeing the creative direction rather than day-to-day production.

For fans, this means the on-track rivalry now has a face for every side. Santi races Noah. Noah loves Maya. Maya is Santi's sister. It is a tight knot. Everyone shares the same paddock, so a secret cannot stay secret for long. Peña's role sits at the centre of that tension, as both family and competitor.