Javier Bardem says no to ‘Despicable Me 2’

There were some early rumors last year that Oscar winner Javier Bardem was going to have a role in Universal Studio’s sequel to Despicable Me. But looks as if he is no longer interested in the role.

He was reported to be in negotiations about voicing a villain called El Macho who is a larger than life luchador and the baddest Mexican to walk the Earth, but looks like commitments to ‘Skyfall‘, the new James Bond film releasing 2013, as well as Terrence Malick’s currently untitled project with Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams.

So who is replacing Bardem in the movie? The word is that Universal Studios is doing a wide search for Latino and non-Latino actors. I’m sure they’ll audition the usual suspects. Kudos to Universal though for actually creating a Latino animated character which are rarely seen these days, even though WB’s ‘Happy Feet 2′ went towards that direction as well. It’s in Universal’s best interest since the original ‘Despicable Me‘, which was in 3D, had 25% of the box office coming in from Latino audiences.

Leave your comments below of whom you’d like to see replace Javier Bardem as the Mexican villain ‘El Macho’.

‘Despicable Me 2’ has a release date for 2013.