Antonio Banderas, Danny Trejo to Star in Fantastical Sports Drama ‘Armadillo United’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Antonio Banderas and Danny Trejo will lead the cast of the fantastical sports drama “ Armadillo United .” The feel-good film marks a reunion between Banderas and Trejo, who have shared the screen over the years in 1995’s “Desperado,” 1996’s “From Dusk Till Dawn” and the “Spy Kids” franchise. “Armadillo United” 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 play a character named Diego, described as “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.” Rubén Blades (“Fear the Walking Dead”) will portray Coach Yepez, a former professional soccer star who serves as the coach of Armadillo United. Danay Garcia (“Prison Break”) will play Dante’s mother DeeDee. Trejo will portray Coach Koko, who leads the Armadillo United’s arch-rivals, The Champions. Alan Jacobs (“Down for Life”) is writing and directing the film, which will be produced by Elizabeth Avellán (“Spy Kids”), Brent Morris (“The Lost Bus”) and Paul Merryman (“The Outpost”). Mike Golub, a Major League Soccer exec, will serve as executive producer. Popular on Variety “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,” Jacobs said in a statement. “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.” 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 creative team of “Armadillo United” 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. “When we started the project, our first stop was Major League Soccer,” said Jacobs, a former soccer coach. “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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