Gabriel Retes fine little film EL BULTO has been bought by Spielberg, I really hope he does't take out its heart and soul in the process of remaking it...
Mafu Fontana here with news on Steven Spielberg...
Steven Spielberg has just bought the rights to EL BULTO, a 1991 Mexican film by Gabriel Retes. In an interview to a local newspaper, Mr. Retes said that Spielberg had a meeting with him rwgarding this around March, but that only this past week was the sale confirmed. Dreamworks has the rights to the script and the movie for one year, in which time Spielberg plans to produce the project. Gabriel Retes did say that Spielberg discussed with him the possibility of directing it himself.
The original story is about a reported that is beaten by the police during a political rally in 1971 (it's a historical event that has a lot to do with the student riots of '68 and the turmoild derived from that event in Mexico). He ends up in a coma. He wakes up 20 years later and is left to deal with the new realities of the country, including the changes that his family has suffered because of his absence. It's a really good movie that won critical acclaim in Mexico, and has become a cult hit.
In his interview, Mr. Retes also said that Spielberg plans to rewrite the script to adapt it to the northamerican culture, possibly dealing with a reporter that is wounded during the vietnam war, falls in a coma and wakes up around the times of the Persian Gulf conflict (the Dessert Storm war).
Hope this is of interest!
M.F.
