Antonio Banderas’ ‘Cortés’ Swaps Directors, and the AI-Powered Epic Gets a Genre Veteran at the Helm

Few figures in history are as divisive as Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador whose 16th-century march on the Aztec Empire still sparks debate. Antonio Banderas’ ‘Cortés‘ is a big-screen retelling of that story. It is set in 1519, when a restless soldier hungry for glory takes command of an expedition to the Yucatán and sails without permission.

The story is told largely through Marina, the enslaved Indigenous woman and translator who allied with him. According to the official logline, she watches Cortés transform from a daring outlaw into a self-anointed messiah as he turns fragile alliances, faith and fear into instruments of conquest. It is a heavy, morally tangled subject, and it needs a lead who can carry that ambiguity.

Banderas is an Academy Award nominee and a Cannes Best Actor winner for ‘Pain and Glory’. His credits run from ‘The Mask of Zorro’ to ‘Philadelphia’ and the ‘Puss in Boots’ franchise. More recently, he appeared in A24’s ‘Tony’, and he has Trudie Styler’s ‘Up Against It’ next on his slate.

The latest twist is behind the camera. Alex Proyas, the filmmaker behind ‘I, Robot’ and ‘Dark City’, has taken over directing duties on the project Deadline reported in an exclusive. Filming began in Paris and Spain a few weeks ago with French filmmaker Paul Mignot announced as director.

Mignot remains attached to the production in another capacity, according to the production. No reason was given for his exit from the director’s chair. It is a notable pivot for a film that was only announced a few weeks earlier with Mignot at the helm.

Proyas framed the film in sweeping terms. He called it “one of cinema’s great untold stories” and described a tale of ambition, conquest and betrayal told through Marina’s eyes. He also said Banderas can inhabit every facet of that complexity.

The headline detail is the technology. The film is described as AI-enabled, and it is reportedly combining live-action performances with AI-generated environments. Banderas and the cast are real, while the sprawling 16th-century world around them leans on generative tools.

The producers say the point is scale and cost. Utopai Studios has said the film represents a decades-long effort to bring an unusually large and expensive historical story to life. It has also said AI tools will help overcome the scale and cost limitations that kept the project from being made before.

Utopai’s CEO and co-founder Cecilia Shen has said the film is exactly why the studio was built. Producer Marco Weber of Ex Machina Studios added that a historical epic works best when audiences believe the people at its center. The film is co-financed and co-produced by Utopai and Ex Machina, and the script is by Oscar nominee Nicholas Kazan.

Utopai Studios was launched in 2022 by former Google engineers Cecilia Shen and Jie Yang. It grew out of a company focused on 3D world creation and video generation, and was repositioned as a film and TV studio built around AI-enabled production. Its slate mixes fully AI-generated and AI-enabled projects, including an AI-assisted animated adaptation of ‘The Most Serious Fart’ and a fully AI-generated take on ‘Journey to the West: The Lost Five Hundred Years’.

Proyas is no stranger to this territory. Earlier reports have tied him to the AI-driven project ‘Heaven’, which is among films expected to reach US cinemas in 2027. ‘Cortés’ is described as his highest-profile movie since ‘Gods of Egypt’ a decade ago, so this could be the first Proyas feature many viewers see in years.

Reaction to Banderas’ involvement has been mixed, in a film industry that remains split over AI in production workflows. Variety described the actor as the latest Hollywood veteran to align with an AI-focused company. Some commentators have already argued that the AI angle will be a tough sell for many viewers.

That tension will follow the project to market. The producers are taking the film to buyers at the American Film Market, with K5 International handling sales for Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. Spanish-language reports have pointed to a 2027 release, though a firm date has not been confirmed.

For now, the talent attached is real, and so is the controversy. A leading man with serious awards pedigree, a director known for visually distinctive worlds and a bold technological bet make for an unusual mix. Whether audiences embrace it or recoil may come down to how convincing that AI-built version of the 16th century looks on screen.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!