FX’s “The Bridge” has landed Oscar nominee Demian Bichir as its male lead.
Meredith Stiehm and Elwood Reid’s pilot script adapts the Scandinavian series “Bron” by transplanting the main murder investigation to the Mexican-American border.
Bichir plays Chihuahua (the Mexican state, not the tiny dog) homicide detective Marco Ruiz, your quintessential only-good-cop-in-a-corrupt-system. When a body is dumped on the bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Ruiz has to join forces with Detective Sonya North (Diane Kruger) to solve the crime.
The “Bridge” pilot will be directed by Gerardo Naranjo (“Miss Bala”).
“We’re huge fans of Demián Bichir’s work and are thrilled he is taking on the lead role in ‘The Bridge,'” blurbs John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks. “He instantly raises the level of authenticity to the story and this is a true casting coup. To have the biggest movie star in Mexico choose his return to television for this project speaks volumes about the quality of the writing by Meredith Stiehm and Elwood Reid.”
Stiehm and Reid add, “Getting an actor of Demián’s stature for The Bridge is truly a dream come true. Demián’s on-screen intensity and deep understanding of Mexico are huge assets to the show. We literally wrote the pilot with him in mind.”
Born and raised in Mexico City, Bichir earned an Oscar nomination earlier this year for his work in “A Better Life.” Most recently seen in “Savages,” Bichir has completed work on “The Heat” for Paul Feig and “Machete Kills” for Robert Rodriguez. On the small screen, he played Esteban Reyes on Showtime’s “Weeds.”