Before visiting the Prado in Madrid, I knew very little about the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Like most classical painting, the majority of his work left me underwhelmed. However, there is a fascinating period called his ‘black paintings’, which are a refreshingly morbid departure from his parasol and portraiture set.
Now I see that Javier Bardem (in my opinion, cinema’s finest actor) and the lovely and talented Natalie Portman are in talks to star in Goya’s Ghosts.
Written by Jean-Claude Carriere and Forman, the drama is set in Spain in 1792, when Goya was the country’s most famous painter. A scandal arises when his teenage muse is framed for heresy by a manipulative monk who is one of the driving forces behind the Spanish Inquisition.
Bardem will play the monk. Portman will play the muse as well as her teen daughter Alicia, who might be the result of an illicit affair with the monk.
Is this The Girl with the Pearl Earring 2: Greit’s Revenge?
DarrenBarefoot.com 
I agree with you that Javier Bardem is the best actor in film today. At first I heard that he would be playing the monk. Now I am hearing that he will play Goya. I guess we will have to wait and see about that. From what I read, the film will focus on the inquisition and that whole period of time rather than just the painter’s obsession with his muse (like Girl with a Pearl Earring did).