VIDEO : Amazon Orders 'Cortes' Miniseries

Amazon Studios has ordered Cortes, a miniseries based on the exploits of the titular conquistador, with Javier Bardem in the lead role. Oscar-winning writer Steven Zaillian will pen the script, based on a 50-year-old screenplay by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo?s own saga was recently depicted in a feature film starring Bryan Cranston in an Oscar-nominated performance. Calling the saga of Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) epic doesn?t begin to do the story justice. The 18-year-old future conquistador first arrived in the New World in 1504, following in the wake of Christopher Columbus.