"Desperado", "From Dusk Till Dawn" and "Sky Kids" stars Antonio Banderas and Danny Trejo have signed on to star in the sports comedy "Armadillo United". The film is written and directed by Alan Jacobs ("Down for Life"). Filming will begin in March at Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas, with additional production set to take place on location in Brazil and Spain. Watch LLC and Arca Media will finance the film.
The plot follows 12-year-old Dante Delgado and his fictional soccer team's roller coaster ride to the World Cup of Youth Soccer in Rio de Janeiro. Banderas will star as Diego, an eccentric ice cream vendor who believes he's the legendary Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona and imparts important soccer and life lessons to the protagonist. Trejo will portray Coach Koko, who leads the Armadillo United's arch-rivals, The Champions.
The cast also includes Rubén Blades ("Fear the Walking Dead") as Coach Yepez, a former professional soccer star who serves as the coach of Armadillo United, and Danay Garcia ("Prison Break") as Dante's mother DeeDee.
The creative team is working closely with Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer, which will provide both players and coaches for extensive soccer sequences in the film. About 30 players from the Houston Dynamo Academy will be featured in the movie, aided off-screen by their actual coaches.
"Armadillo United" will be produced by Elizabeth Avellán ("Spy Kids"), Brent Morris ("The Lost Bus") and Paul Merryman ("The Outpost"). Mike Golub, a former Major League Soccer exec and two-time MLS Executive of the Year, will serve as executive producer.
Jacobs said in a statement: "In a word, the film is about joy. The joy of being a kid, the joy of playing the beautiful game, and the joy of delivering this magical story to the world. We are truly blessed to cast these four immensely talented performers who embody that spirit of joy on and off the screen. I am confident that Antonio, Rubén, Danay, and Danny will be a great inspiration to the young people in our cast and to audiences around the globe. When we started the project, our first stop was Major League Soccer. You can' t make a great dance movie without great dancers and you can't make a great soccer movie without great soccer players. The MLS Academy program has the best young players in the country. It’s the future of U.S. soccer. We’re thrilled to be working with them."
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