Celebrated Oscar-winner and Sundance regular (for his docu output) with 2013’s God Loves Uganda and 2016’s Life, Animated, Roger Ross Williams made a curious move into fiction storytelling when was named among those attending the 2018 Directors Lab. Back then the project on paper was known as The Life and Death of Cassandro, and not much time later the filmmaker got into the ring with Gael Garcia Bernal (another Sundance habitual) for the abridged titled Cassandro – a biopic on Saúl Armendáriz. For those not into the know, Bernal becomes a bleached blond wrestling misfit who took machismo by the horns and added a bunch of pizzazz to arm locks and body slams. Roberta Colindrez and Bad Bunny co-star. Production began early in the year in Mexico City – but we’re unsure if the projects was wrapped up since.
Gist: This tells the true story of Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso who rises to international stardom after he creates the “exotico” character Cassandro, the “Liberace of Lucha Libre,” and in the process upends not just the macho wrestling world but also his own life.
Production Co./Producers: Ted Hope and Todd Black.
Prediction: PREMIERES.
U.S. Distributor: Amazon Studios.
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