Rodrigo Santoro is ready to establish a little dominion of his own…

The 38-year-old Brazilian actor has signed on to star in the indie drama Dominion.

The film, which also stars John Malkovich and Rhys Ifans, is based on the last day of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’ short life at the White Horse Tavern in New York. Thomas died at the age of 39 of pneumonia but was a voracious drinker.

The film is being shot in black and white by Steven Bernstein, the cinematographer on Monsterand Like Water for Chocolate, from his own script.

Santoro, who reprised his role as Xerxes in this year’s 300: Rise of an Empire and was the voice of Tulio in Rio 2, will portray the bartender at the White Horse, a pivotal role as a character who continues to communicate with Thomas throughout the film. Diego Luna was previously linked to the role.

The tavern, which opened in 1880, became a well-known Bohemian hangout in New York in Greenwich Village in the 1950s and is still a going concern on Hudson and 11th St.

“It’s not a biopic at all, but rather a testament to the man and his legacy,” says producer Richard Gladstein.

Santoro will next star alongside Will Smith and Margot Robbie in the heist movie Focus and just wrapped The 33, the film about the Chilean miners.