People, it's time for a quick history lesson. If you've never heard of Fernan Cortes, he was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that directly resulted in the fall of the Empire of King Montezuma II. Leading the Spanish colonization of America in the 16th century, Cortes used existing political crises to gather the allies in his favor and to establish his own stronghold. The rest is a tragic, predictable story marked by endless disputes, counterattacks and colonial cruelty inflicted on indigenous population, with cortics appearing as an important but controversial historical figure.

In 2018, someone in Amazon Studios had a bright idea to Greenlight Miniseries spinning around Cortes, with Steven Spielberg attached as an executive producer. The involvement of Spielberg with the project can be followed in 2014, as the initial plan was to direct a film based on the complicated link between Cortes and Montezuma II. You see, screenwriter Dalton Trambo (best known for his contributions to "Roman Holiday" and "Spartak") wrote a 205 -page scenario (!

Quickly ahead of 2014, and Steven Zilian (who wrote the script for the "Shindler list"). Second The script (now withdraws "Cortes") based on the draft of Trambo, leading Spielberg to consider joining as a director, with Javier Bardem in talks with old as an infamous conqueror. This, obviously, did not happen, but Zilian ended up considering his scenario in four -hour minisions in 2018, Bardem officially signed at Star, and Spielberg was included as an executive producer. However, Kovid-19 pandemic destabilizes the industry in 2020, making production for the Cortes ministers. Never go on.

Historical epics with complicated figures tend to perform well when shaking shades (FX's "Shogun" brilliance comes to mind), which could have been the case with Cortes. Let's take a closer look at what it could have been.

Some historical retellations run the risk of considering personal shortcomings (which, in some cases, are unforgivable cruelty) in an attempt to make their central characters. Take the different adaptations of "Bounty" as an example, where the same story of HMS's historical rebellion is often told through drastically different lenses. In every version, the lieutenant William Blig appears as something unwanted figure, but Roger Donaldson's "The Bounty" invests with stunning complexity without reducing problematic overtakes of his actions.

Although Amazon's Cortes should always be epic busy in a spectacle, he could center the title Konquistor while highlighting the crimes that are part and parcel of any colonial expedition, along with the catastrophic outcome caused by such an act. Bardem's statement about the project (As part of his press release at the time) reflects this potential complexity, because the actor admitted that "the best and the worst of human nature" should be emphasized in a story with a huge dramatic potential:

"It is a privilege to tell this epic story - - which is full of drama and conflict within this huge, historical spectacle where two distant civilizations clash in the amount of their rule.

Ciro Guerra and Christina Galegos (best known for their epic crime film "Birds of the Pass") were set to direct these mini The project scope was also impressive, as it was filmed in Spanish, Nahwat and Fontal Maya at the same time. Unfortunately, Amazon has abolished all plans to continue production as a result of the pandemic, leaving us to think about whether we could have a historic saga that is thrilled in the mass volume without bypassing the unpleasant truths in history.