When it comes to great directing more than a couple of people come to mind. But who hasn’t heard of Martin Scorsese? The man behind Goodfellas and The Departed now sets his sights on a project called Cortes and with the help of HBO things may be shaping up. The TV network has ordered the drama about the Spanish conquistador and explorer Hernan Cortes to become a series with Benicio Del Toro set to executive produce and star as the lead. A team-up of this calibre on a TV network this popular spells success for both parties. Mississippi Burning scribe Chris Gerolmo will pen the script and executive produce also.
Cortes will focus on the historical figure Hernan Cortes, a man whose role in bringing down the Aztec Empire was decisive. It will not only tell the story about the famous conquistador Cortes but also of Malinche, the Mayan girl who helped him conquer the Aztecs and Montezuma, the Aztec leader he befriended and was eventually put in chains by the conqueror. This personality is controversial to say the least and that is because he is considered to be both a hero and a monster. By claiming territories in Mexico, Cortes has assured Spain’s control over the region but on the other hand in doing so he usurped and killed great numbers of indigenous people. The source material suggests a very complex character something that both Benicio del Toro and Scorsese will have fun with. Scorsese’s track record regarding HBO has been stellar, nabbing an Emmy for directing the pilot of Boardwalk Empire and having another ongoing untitled 70’s rock’n’roll drama series project with Mick Jagger and Terrence Winter (Boardwalk Empire) as collaborators. For Benicio del Toro, the role of Hernan Cortes will fit like a glove. This is the third Latin-American historical figure Del Toro has played the first two being Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh’s Che and the second was Pablo Escobar in Andrea di Stefano’s Escobar: Paradise Lost.
Besides Chris Gerolmo and the two Oscar winners, Cortes will be executive produced by fellow Che producer Laura Bickford, manager Rick Yorn and Emma Tillinger Koskoff president of Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions.Cortes currently has no air date.Scorsese is not confirmed as the pilot director although seeing as he directed the pilot for Boardwalk Empire all evidence suggests that he may reprise the director chair.