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Sometimes it’s a whole lot easier to slice that cake in two, than to pick it apart. When projects are the bulky screenplay specimen type then this logic certainly becomes a valid option especially when maximum scrutiny is appealed. Rather than go the 3-plus hour route, Steven Soderbergh is splitting the tale into two pieces written by Peter Buchman. Heck if Clint can do it – so can Steven.
With Benicio Del Toro in the title role, the first film, The Argentine begins as Che and a band of Cuban exiles (led by Fidel Castro) reach the Cuban shore from Mexico in 1956. Within two years, they mobilized popular support and an army and toppled the U.S.-friendly regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Guerrilla then begins with Che’s trip to New York, where he spoke at the United Nations in 1964 and was celebrated in society circles.
To be shot back to back, the $70 million project will be using mostly Spanish dialogue. The production begins next May in Mexico and other South American locations and Variety reports that Soderbergh has already shot that opening footage with Del Toro and Julia Ormond, who plays TV journo Lisa Howard.
