LOS ANGELES: Actor Johnny Depp and director Emir Kusturica will have to learn Spanish for an upcoming biopic on Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, Wild Roses, Tender Roses, the film-maker told Screen Daily.

Kusturica — a Serbian director best known for Underground, winner of the top prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival — will begin shooting this new project starring Depp and Mexican actress Salma Hayek in 2011 and it is scheduled for release a year later.

“Believe it or not... Johnny and myself have to learn Spanish,” said Kusturica, who previously worked with Depp on the 1993 film Arizona Dream. The film will be an adaptation of James Baker’s 1996 book The Friends of Pancho Villa.