Steven Spielberg & Javier Bardem team up for historical miniseries for Amazon

(WENN) — Steven Spielberg and Javier Bardem are teaming up to bring blacklisted Hollywood writer Dalton Trumbo's five-decade-old script about Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes to the screen.

"Cortes" will be made as a four-hour mini-series for Amazon Studios with Bardem as the titular character, who led an expedition that brought down King Montezuma II's Aztec empire in the 1500s are created Mexico.

The project will reunite Spielberg with his Oscar-winning "Schindler’s List" screenwriter Steven Zaillian, who will rework "Roman Holiday" and "Spartacus" writer Trumbo's original.

"It is a privilege to tell this epic story, one that is full of drama and conflict within this huge, historical spectacle where two distant civilizations clash at the height of their reign," Bardem says. "The best and worst of human nature came to life in all its light and darkness.

"As an actor, there is no better challenge than to serve such a unique project that I have been passionate about for years, and I am thrilled to be working with this dream team of Steven Spielberg, Steven Zaillian and Amazon."

A Cortes project was touted as an HBO series many years ago with Martin Scorsese and Benicio Del Toro attached as producers, but it never materialized. Spielberg picked it up in 2014 with a view to turn the story into a big screen epic.

A statement from Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, his partners at Amblin Television, reads: "We are so pleased that Amazon has given us the opportunity to bring this exciting 500-year-old story to Prime Video members worldwide. It is a part of history that had such a significant impact and largely influenced modern day civilizations.

"With Javier as Cortes, we have the perfect star for this role, and we can't wait to get started."