The story of civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez is headed for the big screen.
Screenwriter Keir Pearson and producer Larry Meli have optioned life rights for a biopic.
Pearson, who will write the feature screenplay, is producing with Meli for Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna's Mexico-based Canana Films. The rights were controlled and granted by the Cesar Chavez Foundation; negotiations were handled by the labor leader's son, Paul Chavez.
From the 1950s through 1993, when he died, Chavez worked as a community organizer and fought for improved working conditions for California farm workers. The Mexican-American co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers union, and campaigned to prevent illegal immigration from undermining unionization efforts.
