Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna Join Cortés and Moctezuma Series at Amazon as Producers

La nueva serie que prepara Amazon sobre Hernán Cortes y Moctezuma contará con los actores mexicanos Diego Luna y Gael García Bernal como directores ejecutivos, aparte del español Javier Bardem, que, además, la protagonizará.

La producción aún no cuenta con un título definitivo pero estará dirigida por Ciro Guerra y Cristina Gallego, ambos cineastas colombianos, informó este jueves Amazon Studios en un comunicado.

Se tratará de una miniserie que, con formato de drama épico y de cuatro horas de duración, trazará un mapa de la inexorable marcha y eventual confrontación entre el conquistador español Hernán Cortés y el emperador azteca Moctezuma II, resumió el estudio.

Justamente, el anunció de esa ficción se hizo coincidiendo con las celebraciones por el quinto centenario de la llegada de Hernán Cortés al continente americano.

En un principio, el oscarizado Steven Spielberg iba a supervisar el proyecto, pero parece ser que un cambio de planes llevó al estudio a dar con las incorporaciones del nuevo talento.

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Amazon’s upcoming series about Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II has made some high-profile additions to its creative team.

Actors Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna have come onboard the series as executive producers, while Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego are now attached to direct all four episodes of the series. Production designer Eugenio Caballero, an Oscar winner for his work on “Pan’s Labyrinth,” has also joined the production along with costume designer Anna Terrazas and casting director Luis Rosales. Caballero, Terrazas, and Rosales all previously worked together on the Oscar-winning film “Roma.” The Mexican production will be overseen by Stacy Perskie and local production company REDRUM.

The untitled limited series was announced last year, with Javier Bardem attached to star as Cortés. Steven Zaillian is writing the series based on the screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. Zaillian and Bardem will executive produce along with Bernal, Luna, Kirk Douglas, Grant Hill and Amblin Television co-presidents Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey.

Luna and Bernal recently announced their new production house in Mexico, La Corriente del Golfo, an independent company for cinematic, theatrical, and television productions and a variety of community-oriented projects. Luna is repped by WME and Hirsch Wallerstein. Bernal is also repped by WME.

Guerra and Gallego are Colombian filmmakers, whose credits include “Birds of Passage” and “Embrace of the Serpent,” which was the first Colombian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2016. Most recently, Guerra executive produced and directed Netflix’s first original Colombian series, “Frontera Verde.” Guerra’s first English-language feature “Waiting for the Barbarians,” based on the novel by J.M. Coetzee, and starring Mark Rylance, Robert Pattinson and Johnny Depp, premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.

Gallego’s additional producer credits include “Sister of Mine” and the documentary “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name” from director Abner Benaim.

Guerra and Gallego are repped by Paradigm and attorney Marios Rush.
In addition to his work on “Roma” and his Oscar win for “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Caballero’s other credits include “The Impossible,” “A Monster Calls,” “The Runaways,” and “Resident Evil: Extinction.”

Terrazas’ other credits include “Spectre,” the HBO series “The Deuce,” and the upcoming series “Barkskins.” She is repped by Artistry.

Rosales’ first credited casting direction came with the art house film “The Chosen Ones.” Most recently, he completed work on Bernal’s dramedy “Chicuarotes.” He is repped by UTA.