Spielberg and Bardem making Cortes miniseries for Amazon
Amazon has greenlighted a Steven Spielberg produced four-part miniseries about Hernan Cortes.
The series will star Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) and is written by Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List), based on a 50-year-old script by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo.
If that doesn’t sound unique enough, the series was originally planned as a feature but expanded into a series in order to fully explore the scope of the historical epic.
Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of The Americans join Bardem as executive producers.
The series follows conquistador Hernan Cortes as he leads an expedition into what is now Mexico, conquering the Aztec people and bringing the land under Spanish rule during the early 16th century.
The fact that Cortes’s colonization of the area was itself an act of mutiny against Spain and that this colonization initiated the destruction of the indigenous culture of the Aztec Empire add drama and tension to an already fascinating story.
Steven Spielberg was originally planning to direct this himself as a movie back in 2014 but it soon grew into the four-part miniseries instead.
Javier Bardem said that it is a privilege to tell the epic story of Hernan Cortes, one that he said is “full of drama and conflict within this huge, historical spectacle where two distant civilizations clash at the height of their reign.
“The best and worst of human nature came to life in all its light and darkness,” Bardem continued. “As an actor, there is no better challenge than to serve such a unique project that I have been passionate about for years, and I am thrilled to be working with this dream team of Steven Spielberg, Steven Zaillian and Amazon.”