Today's News: Spielberg back for clash of conquistadors?

Hot off MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152883/spielberg_maakt_mogelijk_montezuma

Spielberg is having a tough time in Hollywood at the moment. His Robopocalypse got cancelled while already in production (and after a year of development hell still hasn't resumed filming), and he stepped out of American Sniper (after which Clint Eastwood took over that particular project, so it'll still be a good movie). He hasn't signed on to direct anything else at present, though he is expected to do Indiana Jones 5 whenever that gets geared up. So what's a world renowned director to do? He's not the type to retire (despite pushing his seventies), so looking for new material is his best bet. Maybe he finally found something worth his while with Dalton Trumbo's Montezuma script (or the current adaptation by his colleague of old Steve Zaillian), one of the grand unfilmed scenarios in Hollywood for nigh on five decades. The epic tale of conquest and historical tragedy seems perfectly suited for a visionary director like Spielberg, who has shown to respect history without sacrificing the need for artistic license in favor of dramatic effect the audience craves. But what's to say Hollywood won't back out of this project as well? Historical epics are not exactly a hot item at present, nor are they guaranteed to bring in the big bucks, though they sure tend to cost a lot of bucks. Personally I think Spielberg would do better crafting a miniseries for television out of this, similar to his WWII dramas Band of Brothers and The Pacific. History does a lot better on telly these days, and quality TV would only enhance the possibilities of storytelling to the better. Cortez' brutal tale of conquest is rife with violence and suffering, exactly the type of story that would suit an HBO adaptation perfectly. Taking into account Spielberg already predicted the fall of Hollywood due to overexpensive productions not seeing their profits returned and thus dragging studios into bankruptcy: coupled with his own professional troubles in the studio system in recent years (he had major problems getting Lincoln going to), you'd think he himself would come to the conclusion that the past has more of a future on the home screens.

As for Javier Bardem as Cortez, I'm all for it. He's from Spain, he excels in playing brutal and cruel characters and he's a terrific actor too, so there's no reason against it in my mind, especially if he's motivated to play the part himself.