Gael García Bernal is the new Zorro for the near future remake

There has been talk of a futuristic Zorro movie for a long time. I first reported on it back in 2011 and it was back on again last year. It will be called Z and now has a director and a star. Jonás Cuarón is behind the camera while Gael García Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries, Mozart In The Jungle) is going to be putting on the black mask.

Cuarón and Bernal worked together on Desierto.

Set in the near future, Z re-imagines the classic legend based on the beloved masked swashbuckler.

It was previously described as:

Unlike many of the previous Zorros (real name: Don Diego de la Vega) brandishing whips and swords, the hero of the new installment will live in the future — specifically a desolate and post-apocalyptic one.

In this version, Zorro will be less a caped crusader for justice than a one-man vigilante force bent on revenge, in a western story that has echoes of both Sergio Leone and “No Country for Old Men.”

The picture is being done as a co-production between Lantica Pictures and Mark Amin’s Sobini Films. It will be financed by Lantica Media and sold internationally by Pantelion Films at the upcoming Cannes film market.

“I have always loved Gael for this role,” said Amin, who is producing with Lantica’s Albert Martínez Martín. “Zorro is a hero who is charming, witty and clever. Gael possesses all those characteristic and he’s able to deliver them with a modern spin to introduce the Zorro character to a new audience.”

Both Cuarón and Bernal are fantastic and so I now feel rather confident that this could be something good.