Banderas' new role sparks Mexican revolt

Antonio Banderas has caused a mini-rebellion by playing Pancho Villa in a new film about the Mexican revolutionary.

Mexicans are furious that a Spanish actor has taken the role of the bandit leader infamous for killing 18 people during a raid into the US in 1916.

Adolfo Villareal, who heads the Pancho Villa Popular Front claimed Banderas was the wrong choice to depict a man who hated Spaniards and Americans.

He said: “They should have given the role to a Mexican.”

Student activist America Del Valle complained: “It’s very Hollywood to use big name actors who have never participated in real-life political movements to depict revolutionaries.”

Banderas described Villa as a “disputed character... I am not here to judge him. That is up to God.”

Bruce Beresford, who is directing the film for US station HBO, said Villa would be portrayed as “intelligent, witty, funny and fascinating.”