Johnny Depp is very likely to star as Mexican revolutionary hero Pancho Villa in his upcoming biopic titled Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman With Six Fingers, which is to be directed by Emir Kusturica of Serbia. Depp is in advanced talks about the lead role.

Kusturica is set to start in 2011 in that Depp has prior commitments.

Salma Hayek is also in advanced talks to co-star in the film.

The Spanish-language biopic is to be shot partly in Mexico, where Villa — an early 20th-century bandit who became a guerrilla fighter and a hero to the poor — is an iconic historical figure. Depp will act in Spanish, a nice turn to see him perform.

Depp and Kusturica worked together previously on Arizona Dream in 1993.

The screenplay is based on the biographical novel “The Friends of Pancho Villa,” in which author James Carlos Blake recounts how Villa and his compadres had a great time fighting and robbing the rich, but also dancing, partying and making love. I’d love to see Depp do that.

Villa has previously been portrayed many times on screen by Antonio Banderas, Telly Savalas and even Villa himself in the 1914 film The Life of General Villa, produced by D.W. Griffith.

(Source)