This could be the best movie news of the year. It appears Danny Glover will be Directing a film that will be funded partially by Hugo Chavez and the people of Venezuela! We get the revolutionary news from cinematical:
The radical leader, along with the Venezuelan congress and the new government-funded studio Villa del Cine, brought in Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover to direct his biopic on Toussaint Louverture, the Latin American icon who led the 1791 Haitian slave revolt, which kicked off the former French colony’s revolution and subsequent independence. Glover actually announced the project at Cannes last year, but at that time he was planning to shoot in South Africa. Now that Chávez has become involved, Glover is receiving a budget of about $18 million, co-financed by Venezuela and Argentina, and the production has moved to Caracas. The film should be a monumental boost for Venezuelan cinema, which has finally been growing in notice thanks to 2005’s Secuestro Express.
Hugo Chavez is probably one of my favorite political figures of all time. The guy may be a hothead, fly off the handle and say questionable comments in inappropriate places but at the bottom of it all, there is a man that came from poverty and has a desire to make his country better for all of its people. If you have not seen his Barbara Walters interview, treat yourself and watch it.
The movie itself sounds great. This sounds like a quality historical drama that has life lessons that will ring true today as they did in yesteryear. Danny Glover seems to be passionate about the project and in my opinion that is always key to movie magic.
It will be interesting to see if the trend of government sponsored films continues. I don’t know how to feel about a government gambling money on cinema, but then again it does employ and build an industry within the country. In the long run the films could certainly make money. One thing is certain however – I cannot wait to see this.
