Antonio Banderas to star in AI-powered feature 'Cortés' from Utopai Studios, now shooting in Paris
lmoroney · x · 2026-10-13
Per Variety, Oscar-nominated actor Antonio Banderas will star as Hernán Cortés in Cortés, an AI-enabled feature from Utopai Studios directed by Paul Mignot and written by Oscar nominee Nicholas Kazan. Production is underway in Paris with more shooting planned in Spain; Utopai and Ex Machina Studios are co-producing and co-financing.
- Utopai's pitch: AI tools overcome the scale and cost limits that kept this epic shelved for decades, while filmmakers keep creative control; Ex Machina positions itself around ethical, artist-first AI filmmaking.
- The story follows Cortés in 1519, from a glory-hungry soldier seizing the Yucatán expedition onward.
- The author's takeaway for AI filmmakers: lock human performance and screenplay first, then use generation for the world around them — unbelievable characters sink any amount of world-building.
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