Tag Archives: Hernan Cortes

Tenoch Huerta to Star in Amazon Studio’s Untitled Cortes/Moctezuma Series

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Tenoch Huerta is exploringa whole new role…

The 39-year-old Mexican actor will star alongside Javier Bardem in the untitled Cortés and Moctezuma project from Amazon Studios and Amblin Television.

Tenoch Huerta

Yoshira Escárrega has also been cast in the project. 

The limited series will be a four-hour epic drama that maps the inexorable march and eventual clash between Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortésand Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II, leading to the annihilation of an empire and tragic downfall of a civilization that took centuries to build, but less than two years to destroy.

Oscarwinner Bardem was announced in the role of Cortés last year and will also serve as an executive producer on the project.

Huerta will play Moctezuma, the Emperor of the Aztecs. Escárrega will play Marina, strategic partner, translator and consort to Hernán Cortés.

From Amazon Studios and Amblin Television, the limited series is created for television and written by Academy Award-winner Steven Zaillian and based on the screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. The series is directed by Ciro Guerraand Cristina Gallego. 

Bardem will executive produce alongside Zaillian, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna and more.

Huerta recently wrapped filming a starring role in the Blumhousefeature film, Borderline, the latest installment in the Purge franchise. He’s known for his role as the infamous Rafael Caro Quintero in Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico, opposite Diego Luna and Michael Pena. He also appeared in a key role in the Paul Weitz-directed Bel Canto, which starred Julianne Mooreand Ken Watanabe. 

Escárrega is a film and theater actress born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa and a graduate of Escuela Nacional de Arte Teatral. Her latest work in television includes notable roles in Aquí en la Tierra directed by Gael García Bernal for Fox Premium Latinoaméricaand Dani Who for Paramount Channel Latinoamérica. She recently worked in films with acclaimed directors Alonso Ruiz Palaciosand Ximena Montemayor. 

del Toro to Executive Produce/Possibly Star in HBO’s Drama Series “Cortes,” Currently in Development

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Benicio del Toro is ready to conquer a new role…

The 47-year-old Puerto Rican actor/film producer and Oscar-winner will executive produce Cortes, a high-profile drama series in development at HBO.

Benicio del Toro

Cortes will tell the sweeping story of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who brought down the Aztec empire; Malinche, the Mayan girl who helped him do it; and Montezuma, the Aztec leader he befriended and finally put in chains.

del Toro is also interested in starring as the Spanish conqueror.

The subject matter has the makings of a compelling drama as Cortés’ legacy is a complex one. On one hand, he won Mexico for Spain and extended the Spanish Empire. But from the indigenous’ point of view, he was a mass murderer who spearheaded the destruction of one of the greatest civilizations of that time.

Cortes is being written/executive produced by Mississippi Burning scribe Chris Gerolmo, and directed/executive produced by Martin Scorsese.

Centropolis Entertainment Acquires the Screen Rights to “Maya Lord,” About Gonzalo Guerrero

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The story of the father of Mexico’s first Mestizo family is headed to the big screen…

Roland Emmerich’s Centropolis Entertainment has acquired the screen rights to John Coe Robbins’ historical novel Maya Lord.‎

maya-lord-book-cover

The novel tells the fact-based story of Gonzalo Guerrero, who was shipwrecked in a violent storm in 1511, and found himself cast away on an unknown shore in the New World. He and his Spaniard shipmates were enslaved by a Mayan tribe.

With no hope of escape, the brilliant and pragmatic adventurer searches for a way to advance in a strange new culture. As one of the captives eventually joins Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico, Gonzalo adopts Mayan ways and rises to become a major warlord, defending the Mayan people against Cortes and other Spanish conquistadors.

Guerrero, who married the daughter of a Maya chieftain, is generally regarded in Mexico as the father of the first Mestizo family.

Emmerich has been passionate about Guerrero’s story for years.

Rivera to Pen Series About Hernán Cortés for Showtime

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He brilliantly penned a story based on Che Guevara‘s diary about a motorcycle trip… And, now José Rivera will be writing about another Latino legend.

Jose Rivera

The 57-year-old playwright—the first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Oscar in 2005 for The Motorcycle Diaries—is penning the script for Showtime’s in-development series Conquest, which tells the story of conquistador Hernán Cortés, who led the Spanish conquest in Mexico, and his clash with Moctezuma II, the last ruler of the Aztec Empire which fell at the hands of Cortés and his men.

Hernan Cortes & Montezuma

Filled with blood, lust, gold, magic and mythology, Conquest is described as “a classic war story about two powerful men and their people, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Aztec culture and the men themselves.”

Oscar-winner Ron Howard is attached to direct Conquest, which happens to be one of his passion projects.

In addition, Howard and Rivera would executive produce the series with Brian Grazer and Imagine TV president Francie Calfo.

Conquest marks Rivera’s return to television, where he co-created the 1991 NBC series Eerie, Indiana.