Zorro to crusade again in futuristic US film

LOS ANGELES– The Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal will wield the sword of Zorro in a futuristic version of the classic story about the masked crusader, the film industry magazine Variety revealed Thursday.

Unlike previous versions, the new movie, “Zorro Reborn,” will not take place during Spanish colonial times in California or Mexico.

Instead, the actor who starred in “The Motorcycle Diaries” will bring Zorro to life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland in a script written by Glenn Gers and produced by 20th Century Fox.

Garcia Bernal would play “a masked vigilante bent on revenge,” Variety reported.

The movie still lacks a director.

The various Zorro movies traditionally have told the story of Diego de la Vega, a Spanish nobleman who defended lowly residents of colonial California from tyrannical authorities.

One of the most recent versions of the story was the 2005 film “The Legend of Zorro,” starring Antonio Banderas.

Another version based on the novel by Isabel Allende, “Zorro: The Legend Begins,” is currently being produced by Sony studios.