"It's funny when word gets around that one group is looking at something, then everyone wants to take a look at it," said Luis Alberto Urrea in a recent phone interview. According to the acclaimed Chicano author, four movie groups are now looking at his latest book, The Hummingbird's Daughter.  

After reading Urrea’s powerful novel, I’m not surprised at all the Hollywood attention it’s receiving. This fictionalized story about Urrea's great aunt Teresita, who became Mexico's celebrated Saint of Cabora, cries out to be a film. Filled with action, romance, humor and heart, The Hummingbird's Daughter is an incredible adventure set against the colorful backdrop of revolutionary Mexico during the late 1800s.   

I asked Urrea if he had suggestions for a director and cast. “Each one of the groups has mentioned Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside) for the role of Don Tomas (Teresita’s dashing father), and I think he would be excellent.” Urrea declared. “But the hard roles to cast will be Teresita and Huila (the elderly medicine woman who mentors Teresita) -- although on a personal level, I’d like to see writer Denise Chavez (Loving Pedro Infante) as Huila. Denise has been doing some one-woman shows and I can see her in this role.”

Concerning directors, Urrea revealed that Alfonso Cuaron’s (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Y tu mama tambien) group has looked at the book. He also mentioned that if he accepts the HBO package, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s son Rodrigo (Gia) would probably direct. “The HBO advantage is that the entire story could be told as a mini-series instead of cut to a 2-hour film,” Urrea explained.

In the Author’s Note section of The Hummingbird’s Daughter, Urrea writes, “Mike Candejas in the Lynne Pleshette Agency battles Hollywood for me and makes dreams come true.” If a movie is made, Urrea told Candejas to negotiate a deal “where I’ll be directly involved in the production.”

Urrea’s insistence on such an arrangement is not surprising, for The Hummingbird’s Daughter represents 20 years of research and work for him. “It’s my attempt to bring Teresita back from obscurity and give her the attention and respect she deserves so that people will understand her ministry to the world,” he said.  “But the deepest truth involves my own attempt to recognize sacredness.”

As proof of his novel’s power, Urrea recently signed a contract for the sequel, The Queen of America. “I have to get busy writing,” he stated. “I don’t want to take another 20 years to write this one!”     

(The Hummingbird’s Daughter was published by Little, Brown and Company in May of 2005; Teresita graphic from Luis Urrea website.)

For more information about Luis Urrea, click here.