Heavyweight Hollywood director, Steven Spielberg has been linked to a script that’s been languishing in the Tinsel Town vaults for the past 50 or so years.
MONTEZUMA follows the power struggle between Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and Aztec leader Montezuma (often spelt Moctezuma) during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It was penned by Dalton Trumbo in 1965 as a vehicle for Kirk Douglas, but the project got shelved.
Trumbo authored the screenplay for Hollywood classic SPARTACUS (also featuring Douglas), so if that’s anything to go by we can expect an epic treatment for MONTEZUMA. Trumbo courted controversy in the US, blacklisted for his involvement with the Communist Party by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and sent to prison for 11 months.
Oscar winning writer Steven Zaillian will be reworking the screenplay for a modern day audience (he last worked with Spielberg on 1993’s SCHINDLER’S LIST). And to add just that bit more clout, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem is also excited by the project – in particular the prospect of playing Cortés.
Apparently the power shifting and ambiguous relationship between Cortés and Moctezuma is a draw for Bardem, as is the fact the story is told largely from the Spanish conquistador’s perspective. The bloody history between the two leaders is well documented; Cortés was originally an uneasy guest of the Aztecs but eventually he defeated them, with the help of local tribes who had a grudge to bear. It sounds like an ideal role for Bardem. His performance as the antagonist in both SKYFALL and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN was murderously menacing.
It all sounds pretty legendary. Let’s hope it gets further than Spielberg’s folded project ROBOPOCALYPSE.
Source: Deadline
