Michael Peña Will Star In ‘Chavez’ From Diego Luna

One of the most underrated Hispanic actors in Hollywood is Michael Peña. But little by little, his work is speaking volumes.

2011 he wowed audiences and critics with his performance in ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ and he might just do it again in 2012 with ‘Chavez’ from Mexican director Diego Luna, known mostly for his acting.

Peña will play the Mexican American labor activist Cesar Estrada Chavez, the man who organized the largest nonviolent protest in U.S. history to achieve its goal of obtaining basic human rights for more than 50,000 farm workers in California. Luna will direct the film, which will be co-produced by Canana Films and will feature Gael Garcia Bernal and John Malkovich in a long list of producers. Keir Pearson of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ wrote the script.

Among the cast assigned to accompany Peña is America Ferrera who plays his wife, Helen Chavez, and Rosario Dawson, who will also star as the right hand of Chavez, his assistant Dolores Huerta. This sounds like it’ll be very similar to ‘Milk’ where Luna co-starred opposite Sean Penn in 2008.

The film begins shooting in Mexico next month without an official release date.