I don't often report on foreign films but this one really sparked my interest. Antonio Bandaras (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) is set to play famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso* in an upcoming film.
The film 33 Dias will be directed by Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura. Rather than a straight biopic, 33 Dias (days) will focus on one of Picasso's most famous paintings, the well renowned "Guernica."
I don't claim to know much about Picasso but apparently this painting was done in reaction to Nazi Germany's 1937 destruction of the Basque town of Guernica by Hitler's Luftwaffe. Apparently the notoriously tortured artist struggled mightily with painting "Gurenica" as the internal turmoil will be a key part of the film.
The film will begin shooting next summer in Paris and Guernica and will be in both Spanish and French. Famous cinematographer Vittorio Storaro will be capturing the film. He previously won an Academy Award for Francis Ford Copolla's 1979 film Apocalypse Now.**
I'm not so sure if I like the choice of actor here. I have no real issue with Bandaras as an actor, I just don't know if I see him as right for this role. He will be playing a 56 year old Picasso in this film who by then was bald. I don't know if Bandaras has the range to play one of the most famous artists of all time. I think Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) would have been a much better choice.
*Pablo Picasso's full name is Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. Wow.
**Apocalypse Now was actually Lawrence Fishburne's first film.
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