MADRID (Reuters) - Swashbuckling Spanish hero Alatriste, as played by a Danish-American heartthrob, is ready to conquer the box office just as the best-selling novels where he first appeared have won the public's affection. With a 24 million euro (16.15 million pounds) budget, Spain's most expensive film to date stars Spanish-speaking New York actor Viggo Mortensen, best known as Aragorn in the "Lord of the Rings" series. Mortensen's performance so impressed novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte, who created Alatriste, that he has incorporated his gestures into his latest novel. It tells the story of a dashing but down-to-earth captain who cuts, thrusts and sulks his way through three decades in the 17th century, when Spain was a world superpower. [More]