Chris Boal to script Sony’s Zorro reboot

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Quite a bit of time has gone by since we last talked about the ZORRO reboot. The last time we saw the character portrayed was back in 2005 with Antonio Banderas in the lead. A little LEGEND OF ZORRO anyone?

Those were pretty okay flicks. Banderas was the hot thing along with co-star Catherine Zeta Jones, also hot. It worked nicely. Oddly, my memories of the character go back to when Guy Williams wore the mask. That was way before I was born, but when nothing else was on TV at my babysitter’s house I would get sucked into watching it. I hadn’t seen much of anything that was broadcast in black and white at the age of 7 so I can understand the fascination. Plus, Zorro is a cool character—he’s suave, dashing, cunning, and good with sword. What’s not to like?!

That said, I was open and still am open to the idea of bringing Zorro back to the big screen. Sony has finally locked down a screenwriter for their adaptation of the material—Chris Boal. Not someone you’d be familiar with but someone who is on the rise. Boal, a former playwright, sold two pitches last year to Warner Bros: one on Julius Caesar and the other centered on Vikings. The first draft of the ZORRO script was handed to Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia based on the novel by Isabel Allende. However that didn’t work out so they brought Boal in.

Here are some interesting details on the film:

While I’m not a fan of people lazily using “Dark Knight-Style” as a way of explaining “gritty, realistic” films, I do get where they are wanting to go, and I think Boal gets that.

Oh, and no one’s called Banderas.