Serbian director Emir Kusturica is negotiating to hire actor Johnny Depp to play strong-arm Mexican revolutionary 'Pancho Villa' for the Spanish-language biopic "Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman With Six Fingers."
The film will be lensed in Mexico where Villa lived.
The film will be lensed in Mexico where Villa lived.
Screenplay was written by Kusturica and Gordan Mihic, based on the biographical novel "The Friends of Pancho Villa".
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, aka 'Pancho Villa', was one of the first Mexican Revolutionary generals. As a commander of the 'División del Norte' (Division of the North), he was in charge of the Northern Mexican state of Chihuahua which, given its size, mineral wealth, and proximity to the US, gave him great power among the locals.
US General John J. Pershing tried to capture Villa after a year in pursuit, but Villa and his supporters, aka 'Villistas', used firing squads against their enemies, seizing hacienda land for distribution to soldiers and commandeering trains.
After the revolution ended in 1920, Villa was given a hacienda outside of Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua by the national government. This was in addition to the Quinta Luz estate that he owned with his wife, María Luz Corral de Villa, in Chihuahua, Chihuahua.
On Friday, July 20, 1923, as Villa made a trip from his ranch to Parral, driving through the city in his black 1919 Dodge Roadster to pick up a consignment of gold from the local bank to pay ranch staff, a group of seven riflemen suddenly appeared in the middle of the road and sprayed 150 shots into the car. In the fusillade, Villa was killed as well as his two 'golden ones' bodyguards.
Sneak Peek "Pancho Villa"...