Last time Picasso was the main subject of a movie he was in the form of Anthony Hopkins in Surviving Picasso, but now he’s getting a younger and more handsome filmic outing with Antonio Banderas signing up to play the artist in 33 Dias, according to Variety.
The film will concentrate on the period around the Spanish Civil War, when Picasso found himself in a personal crisis during his relationship with the French artist Dora Maar. He then set out to create the epic painting Guernica, his defining anti-war statement that he hoped would bring attention to the bombing of the Basque town by Franco-supporting German forces. The painting is considered one of his greatest achievements and currently resides at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.
Banderas says, “He’s a character that has pursued me for a long time. I am from Malaga, and he was born four blocks from where I was born.” Indeed if you look a pictures of the artist in the 1930s and 1940s, Banderas is a very good fit. Writer/director Carlos Saura will start shooting in the summer on an $8 million budget (which is considerably less that what the painting it’s about is worth).
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