Spanish actor Antonio Banderas will play the role of "Super" Mario Sepúlveda in "The 33," an upcoming film about the group of 33 Chilean miners who in 2010 spent 69 days trapped half a mile beneath the surface of the earth after the mine shaft caved in. "Super Mario" Sepúlveda rose to international fame after cameras sent down to the miners gave the world a glimpse of his ebullient personality -- he was seen dancing with the Chilean flag, and upon surfacing he immediately led the crowd in chants.
Watch footage below of the first euphoric moments after his resurface.
Producer Mike Medavoy made the announcement that Banderas would star in it on Sunday at the Cannes Movie Festival. Medavoy, who lived for a decade in Chile, had secured the rights to the project last year and has been developing it with the aid of the miners, rescuers and their families. Martin Sheen and Rodrigo Santoro will also star in the film, which Patricia Riggen ("La Misma Luna") will direct. The film will mark the second time Medavoy and Sheen have worked together, with the first coming in the Francis Ford Coppola-directed "Apocalypse Now".
The venture is expected to be a veritable gold mine for all parties involved. More than a billion people tuned in to the 24-hour coverage of the rescue effort.
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Mario Sepúlveda, a 40-year-old father of two, told press after the rescue that during the first few days, the trapped men would scream, cry and fight, but that daily prayers carried out as a group kept them together.
"You have everything going through your mind: you fear, you cry and you suffer," he told ABC News. "You wonder, 'Is anyone coming to save us - or not?' But doubt always was a passing moment, because we had faith. Every day at noon, we would pray. Everyday. Down there, we were all...one religion."
During a visit to the beach shortly after his rescue, Sepúlveda stripped naked and dropped to his knees in prayer.
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