Mozart in the Jungle star Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, who starred in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, have joined Amazon Studios and Amblin Television’s four-hour miniseries based on the epic saga of Hernan Cortes.
The WME-represented pair will executive produce the series, currently known as the Untitled Cortés and Moctezuma Project, which stars Oscar winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Skyfall, Biutiful) in the title role.
The project has also named Ciro Guerra (Waiting for the Barbarians) and Cristina Gallego (Birds of Passage, Embrace of the Serpent) as directors for all four episodes of what is being described as the largest Spanish-language production of all time.
Production designer Eugenio Caballero, an Oscar winner for his work on Pan’s Labyrinth, also joins alongside costume designer Anna Terrazas (Spectre) and casting director Luis Rosales (Chicuarotes). The Mexican production will be overseen by Stacy Perskie (Narcos: Mexico) and local production company REDRUM.
Penned by Oscar-winning Schindler’s List writer Steven Zaillian, the series centers on the legendary conqueror Hernan Cortes (Bardem), who led a rebellious expedition to the heart of King Montezuma II’s Aztec empire, connecting two civilizations for the first time and changing the course of history.
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The project originated in 2014 as a feature written by Dalton Trumbo (Roman Holiday), with Steven Spielberg eyeing it as a possible directing vehicle. It eventually morphed into a four-hour miniseries through Spielberg’s Amblin Television, so it can do justice to the scope of the epic story.
Bardem, Bernal and Luna executive produce alongside Zaillian, Kirk Douglas (Spartacus), Grant Hill (The Tree of Life) and Amblin Television co-presidents Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey.
Guerra and Gallego are repped by Paradigm and attorney Marios Rush.
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