There’s always a weird feeling these days that when a great foreign film or indie gets a lot of buzz in the film world, the way to exploit it now is to remake it in English or with more dollars with the attitude that you’re, ostensibly, turning it into a real movie. You know, a thing with stars and without accents that the four-quadrants can understand. Well, turns out documentaries aren’t immune, as last year’s well-praised Senna has sparked some a new biopic project aimed at capturing more of the life of Aryton Senna, the most winning F1 driver in history.

If my observation sounds cynical, it’s merely that I find the wider sentiment interesting, but in this case it may well be a great idea. I think Senna, which is a wonderful documentary that you should waste no time in checking out, could quite easily stand as the definitive telling of Senna’s life, but there is of course that documentary distance that narrative drama could find some real estate within and do something interesting. Also, it’s not as if this is truly a remake of a documentary, just a case of clear inspiration. There have been rumors that this film was being put together since last year, but an interview via Collider with possible star Rodrigo Santoro — who you most likely know best as Xerxes — recently gave us the most information yet.

“No, I have not signed on.  It’s just rumor right now.  [But] I keep saying that this rumor has [merit]… There are some talks going on… Yes, they’re working on [the script]… There is something already, like a structure. They’re trying to figure out how they’re going to do this. It’s a real big, big project, that’s why.  For Brazil, it’s the biggest one… I mean, he’s a hero.  In Brazil, he’s…’huge’ wouldn’t describe it.  He’s a hero, like a true hero.  It’s a very delicate matter; I’ve been very careful [with] how we’re going to approach that.  If we get this done, if we really move forward with this project, it will be with the family, with his family, it will all be done in a very, very careful and respectful way. So yeah that might be possible in the future.  Right now, we’re still in conversations, but it is moving.”

You can read the slightly more full interview there (where the 300 star and soon center of 300: Battle Of Artemsia was around to talk about What To Expect When You’re Expecting) though the star is clearly hesitant to let much loose until there’s a real script and director- details I’ll be eager to hear myself.

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