- Directed by New Zealand filmmaker Martin Campbell – known for other films such as ‘Goldeneye’, ‘Vertical Limit’, ‘Green Lantern’, ‘Casino Royale’ (2006 version), ‘Edge of Darkness’, and the 2001 follow-up to 1998’s Mask of Zorro, similarly titled The Legend of Zorro. Campbell works in television as well and has many other films attached to his name. He commonly writes and directs and produces – his filmography is quite a varied one!
- The Mask of Zorro was filmed in Mexico.
- The budget was anywhere from 65-95 million.
- The box office was a startlingly, impressive 250 million. Oodles of cashola!
- The Mask of Zorro was distributed by TriStar Pictures. (Interestingly, TriStar is now owned by Sony Corp. but that only became true when Sony acquired Columbia Pictures in 1989 for 3.5 billion. Columbia held controlling stake in TriStar, which was formatted as [Tri-Star] before Sony bought the company and altered the name’s spelling. 3 ½ billion just to remove a hyphen…whew!)
- Sean Connery & Shakira were both offered roles in The Mask of Zorro but ultimately turned them down.
- Zorro’s obstinate steed is named ‘Tornado’, a name which he forgets when he first rides the horse. The Antonio Banderas version, not Anthony Hopkins’ character “Don Diego de la Vega”.
- Both Sir Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta Jones are Welsh so there’s some continuity between fictional daughter and father.
- Glenn Randall Jr. was the stunt coordinator for The Mask of Zorro helping to design and facilitate most of the invigorating action sequences. Bob Anderson was also instrumental, being a world renowned swordsman or fencer who choreographed most of the fight scenes.
Learn more about Bob Anderson’s career in cinema here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Anderson_(fencer)
- Antonio Banderas plays Alejandro Murrieta and his iconic sword? A custom build with a nifty and ornate “butterfly guard” on the hilt.
- In an earlier iteration, 1959’s ‘Zorro, The Avenger’ Don Diego was played by none other than Guy Williams. Williams was well-known for playing the father on ‘Lost in Space’ a hit 1950s sci-fi TV show that’s still talked about to this day. Check out the 2018 reboot series available on Netflix.
- Oh, yeah. The screenplay for The Mask of Zorro was a combined effort by writers; John Eskow, Terry Rossio, and Ted Elliott.
- The character of “Zorro” originally appeared in 1919. A product of pulp fiction novels – he was created by American writer Johnston McCulley.
- The word zorro literally means fox in Spanish.
- Zorro went on to inform and inspire a plethora of later characters becoming an archetype for the masked vigilante.
- An anti-hero in the truest sense, Zorro’s methods may be questionable but he stands for revolting against oppression and tyranny at all costs. A vagabond who strikes at the heart of injustice.
- Alan Moore took clear aesthetic visual cues from Johnston McCulley’s creation when crafting ‘V for Vendetta’; while he hasn’t touched on the subject in interviews the Wachowski’s have admitted to styling the look and feel of V’s cinematic avatar after the classic masked bandit drawn from Mexican folklore. He even slices a V insignia into a poster fixed to a brick wall early in the Wachowski’s picture – very reminiscent of Zorro!
“The fact that V has more in common with Zorro or Edmond Dantes than he does with Batman or Thor doesn’t change the alignment. And the fact that V prefers to think of himself as an idea rather than a person speaks very specifically to a precise aspect of superhero mythos–at what point does a truly influential hero go beyond mere mortality? What makes symbols and ideas out of us?” [1] –ReactorMag.com
- A 1950s Disney produced ‘Zorro’ TV show which first catapulted the character to household status, premiered on October 10th / 1957.
- The Mask of Zorro was released in theatres on July 17th / 1998. It served as a saucy reimagining for a newer generation of older audience members, now a PG rated property rather than the TV-G rating of its precursor.
- Catherine Zeta Jones had to wear corsets throughout the production of The Mask of Zorro, to train and shape her body into proper posture for the character of Elena.
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Sources:
[1]
Apologize to No One — V for Vendetta is More Important Today Than it Ever Was
By Emmet Asher-Perrin
