The film rights to El Muerto were later purchased by Peninsula Films in May 2003. Valderrama described the film as "The Crow meets Desperado meets Spawn. It's an odd choice for me, but I love making those." He later added, "It's presented in such an odd, hardcore, rad way...very Robert Rodriguez. It's very, very hard. It's a beautiful story told through the eyes of this young guy who's sacrificed in the name of the Aztec gods and he comes back to be a weapon for them. And he rebels against them and asks all these questions about religion."