Antonio Banderas is set to join The 33, the true story of the Chilean Miners that escaped a well or something back in ancient days of 2010. Since his last big project was Puss In Boots, our dear friend Antonio Banderas must be itching to get back to a serious piece of work. Let’s hope The 33 isn’t a cynical cash-grab along the lines of The Perfect Storm or World Trade Center. Martin Sheen and Rodrigo Santoro have also signed up.

The real-life miners (how sad that we now have to make that distinction) we trapped for 69 days down a mine in 2010. Assuming Hollywood’s penchant for wildly elaborating true stories continues in The 33, we expect the cast to resort to cannibalism by day 12. Who wouldn’t want to see Antonio Banderas chewing on Martin Sheen’s shin bone?

Antonio Banderas is set to play Mario Sepulveda, one of the 33 miners known as Super Mario. It looks as though we’ll be getting the sequel to 1993’s Super Mario Bros. the world deserves. Somebody get Bob Hoskins down that mine shaft, pronto!

Directed by Patricia Riggen and produced by Mike Medavoy (Apocalypse Now), The 33 begins filming in Chile this autumn and is set to emerge from the ground like an unwashed miner, a lumpy potato or a massive cicada in 2014.

What’s your favourite Antonio Banderas film? Do you think Martin Sheen can pull off ‘Chilean’? Let us know in the comments below!