Antonio Banderas plays the title role in this cable-TV reenactment of a little-known chapter in the life of Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The year is 1914: With Villa's war of rebellion against the Huerta forces going badly, he hits upon a brilliant method to finance his crusade. Actually, the idea is brought to him: American filmmakers D.W. Griffith (Colm Feore) and Harry Aiken (Jim Broadbent), then busy at work on The Birth of a Nation, approach Villa with a request that he sell them the movie rights to his revolution. Acting as Griffith and Aiken's representative, junior executive Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey) tags along with Villa as the rebel leader willingly "directs" the film of his campaign, even going so far as to delay mass executions until early morning so that the cameramen won't "lose the sun." Ultimately, Villa's dreams of cinematic glory are dashed when the American public, goaded on by certain special interest groups, turns against Pancho and his noble cause. By turns comic, tragic, gruesome, and ironic, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself was first telecast by HBO on September 7, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bruce Beresford - Director, Mark Warner - Editor, Joshua Maurer - Executive Producer, Larry Gelbart - Executive Producer, Mark Gordon - Executive Producer, Gary Levinsohn - Executive Producer, Joseph Vitarelli - Composer (Music Score), Evyen Klean - Musical Direction/Supervision, Herbert Pinter - Production Designer, Peter James - Cinematographer, Sue Jett - Producer, Tony Mark - Producer, Diane Sillan Isaacs - Producer, Lourdes Diaz - Producer, Larry Gelbart - Teleplay By, Larry Gelbart - Screenwriter
At the time of production, this was the most expensive 2-hour television/cable movie ever made, with a budget of over $30 million.[citation needed]
The film is based on The Life of General Villa which was shot in 1914. The actual contract that Pancho Villa signed with Frank N. Thayer and the Mutual Film Company on January 5, 1914 to film the Battle of Ojinaga still exists and is in a museum in Mexico City. The original film has been lost, but some unedited film reels of the battle, showing Pancho Villa and his army fighting Federal forces, as well as photographs and publicity stills taken from the original film still exist.
Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (Antonio Banderas) finds himself without adequate funding to finance his war against the military-run government. He also finds himself at odds with the Americans because of the Hearst media empire's press campaign against him. To counter both of these threats, he sends emissaries to movie producers to convince them to pay to film his progress and the actual battles. Producer D.W. Griffith (Colm Feore) becomes interested and sends Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey) with a film crew to develop film reels.
Thayer becomes horrified and fascinated by the bandit. He finds an enigmatic individual that is both ghoulishly brutal and charmingly captivating. The resulting film became the first feature length movie, introducing scores of Americans to the true horrors of war that they had never personally seen. Thayer sold the studios on making the film despite their concerns that no one would sit through a movie longer than 1 hour by convincing them that they could raise the price of movies to ten cents, doubling the going price at that time.
Nominated for 2004 Costume Designer Guild CDG Award for "Excellence in Costume Design for Television"
Won 2004 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special"
Nominated for 2004 Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special", "Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie", "Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special", "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie", "Outstanding Made for Television Movie", "Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special", "Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special"
Nominated for 2004 Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television" (for Antonio Banderas)
