L.A. Phil Conductor Gustavo Dudamel to Score Simon Bolivar Biopic 'Libertador'

Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Gustavo Dudamel is scoring his first film, the Simon Bolivar biopic Libertador.

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In addition to his conducting duties at the L.A. Philharmonic, Dudamel -- who is from Venezuela -- is also the artistic director of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra.

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Directed by Alberto Arvelo, Libertador is billed as the largest independent production out of South America to date and is told from the viewpoint of Bolivar, the legendary Venezuelan military and political leader who helped secure independence from the Spanish empire.

Edgar Ramírez (Untitled Kathryn Bigelow film, Carlos) stars as Bolivar opposite María Valverde, Danny Huston, Imanol Arias and Gary Lewis. Timothy Sexton (Children of Men) wrote the script.

“From the start, I knew I didn’t want to make a film just about history, so I tried to move away from the paintings in the museums and cinema for historians, and really concentrate on the man behind the stories and who he really was as a person,” said director Arvelo.

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Libertador is produced by Winfried Hammacher and Ana Loehnert.  Executive producers are Ramírez and Christer von Lindequist, who is also handling worldwide sales.

Commenting on the movie, Hammacher said Liberatador "will be the South American Braveheart.”

Arvelo recently wrapped shooting in Venezuela before moving the production to Spain. All told, there are more than 100 different sets employed in the film and more than 10,000 extras.

Libertador is primarily shot in Spanish with English and French subtitles.