Carlos Saura, Vittorio Storaro’s ‘The King of All the World’ Is Snapped Up by Latido (EXCLUSIVE)

“The King of All the World” (“El Rey de Todo el Mundo”), a musical drama directed by “Carmen’s” Carlos Saura and lit by “Apocalypse Now” cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, has been snapped up for world sales by Latido Films.

The deal was sealed as the Toronto Festival hit its full stride on Friday. Spanish distribution rights have been acquired by distribution house Syldavia.

Starring Ana de la Reguera (“Ana,” “Army of the Death”), Manuel García Rulfo (“Magnificent 7,” “Greyhound”), “The King of All the World” is fiction – so more in line with Saura’s Cannes and Bafta winning “Carmen” (1983) as well as “Tango” (1998), for which Saura has won international fame and Oscar nominations, than his latter-day, more informative documentaries.

Damián Alcazar (“Narcos,” “La Delgada Línea Amarilla”) and Enrique Arce (“Money Heist,” “Terminator Dark Fate”) co-star.

The plot is hallmark Saura: World-famous choreographer Sara (De la Reguera) is asked by her former boyfriend Manuel, a stage director (García Rulfo), to help him prepare a new play.

A highly competitive casting call follows; two of the top dancers Diego (Isaac Hernández) and Inés (Greta Elizondo) are chosen to perform the leads and fall in love.

But Inés has doubts about continuing in the production, mostly due to a complicated relationship with her father Angel (Enrique Arce) who has pulled one trick too many with a mobster Don Anselmo (Alcázar) who will stop at nothing to seek revenge.

Hernández is the lead dancer of the English National Ballet, Elizondo the lead dancer of the Mexican National Ballet.

Juxtaposing art and reality in a dizzy mix where it is not easy to distinguish the two, “The King of All the World” is described as a musical drama that turns on the need to dance, create and love and how hard all of this is in a dangerously ultra-competitive world.

The title marks Saura’s first embrace of Mexican music, folk and modern, working with top-notch Mexican and Latin talent as, thanks to the exploding Spanish-language drama series scene, the region is beginning to develop its own star system.

A Mexican-Spanish production of Pipa Films, the film marks the solo debut as a producer of entrepreneur Eusebio Pacha after he served as associate producer on the box office hit “Los del Tunel” and documentary “Sara Baras, todas las voces.”

Currently in post-production, where it has initiated its mixing, “The King of All the World” will be ready for delivery in the next few months.