Now that he’s off American Sniper, Steven Spielberg has a spot to fill on his plate. He still has the long-gestating Robopocalypse, among other projects, that he could move to, but it appears that he might be headed in another direction. Apparently the director has his eye on a period epic titled Montezuma, and he wants Javier Bardem for the lead role. Said role will be that of Spanish explorer Hernando Coretz, who “battles the titular character as Spain infiltrates Mexico.”
Deadline is the one breaking the news and according to them, Steve Zaillian has been called in to do a re-write of the script, which is actually roughly fifty years old. In fact, the original 205 page version was written for Kirk Douglas. Seeing as Zaillian penned Schindler’s List for Spielberg, the fact that he’s on board with this one is pretty reassuring. I mean, you can’t really go wrong with that trio of names (Spielberg, Bardem, Zaillian).
While I’m pretty eager to see the director attend to Robopocalypse, I’d also be excited to see him take on something like Montezuma. The project sounds like something that is well suited for Spielberg and with the talent that’s attached, it will no doubt be something to watch out for.
Tell us, does Montezuma sound like a good project for Steven Spielberg to take on? Or would you like to see him focus his efforts elsewhere? Let us know in the comments section below.
