Middle-earth King Viggo Mortensen could be 17th century Spanish Captain next

Viggo Mortensen can’t seem to get enough of playing military leaders or horse riders it seems now that the Lord of the Rings trilogy is all done.

Web site Las Horas Perdidas repors that the Hidalgo star is up for the leading role of Captain Alatriste together with Y Tu Mama Tambien hunk Gael Garcia Bernal who will take the role of his young companion de Balboa in a new big budget Spanish film from Director Agustín Díaz Yanes.

Jean Reno, Leonor Watlig and Demian Bichir are all for now unconfirmed attachments to the 20 million Euro-budgeted project – an adaptation of the whole book saga by Arturo Perez Reverte (The Ninth Gate) which narrated the life and death of Alatriste, an adventurer of the Spanish 17th century as well as serving as a meticulous portrait of Spanish society of that time.

Of Viggo, Yanes says “He has the age, the professionalism, the look, the body and he’s one of the few action heroes there are on the cinema. Alatriste is a solitary guy who fights with everybody and has his own conduct of law.”

Reverte says the movie will be shot in Spanish even though “if it was in English it would be easier but the merit of Alatriste consists in respecting the language in which it was conceived (ie. 17th century Spanish)”. Filming will start in September around Toledo, Ciudad Real, Baeza, Sevilla and other locations.