The Guardian reports this morning that Spanish actor Antonio Banderas will play famed modernist painter Pablo Picasso in director Carlos Saura’s upcoming “33 Dias,” a drama about the creation of Picasso’s famed Guernica painting.

Here’s the nut graf:

“Guernica, a black and white mural that Picasso completed in 1937, was painted in response to the bombing of the Basque town by German and Italian forces supporting the nationalists during the Spanish civil war. It’s unveiling at the World’s Fair in Paris in the same year helped to bring attention to the conflict. The tally of civilian deaths as a result of the bombings is still disputed. The Basque government reported 1,654 dead after the attack, but modern estimates put the number between 300-400.

“Picasso’s a character that has pursued me for a long time and I always rejected,” Banderas told El País. “He deserves a lot of respect because I am from Malaga, and I was born four blocks from where he was born”. Banderas, 51, is of a similar age to that of the artist (54) when he finished the painting.”

Read the full story here.