(EFE).- Kate del Castillo, who played a cartel boss in the telenovela "La Reina del Sur" and raised eyebrows with an appeal to Mexico's biggest real-life drug lord to use his power for good instead of evil, began work Friday on a film about the 1994 murder of a Mexican presidential hopeful.

The actress joined director Carlos Bolado in front of reporters for a press conference to mark the start of shooting on the movie about the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio.

Del Castillo said she had long wanted to work with Bolado and was thrilled to be working in her native Mexico on "such an interesting project."

The film, which also stars Jose Maria Yazpik and Daniel Gimenez Cacho, "will surely provoke controversy," she said.

Colosio was fatally shot at the end of a campaign event in Tijuana and the official investigation said the crime was the work of lone gunmen, a conclusion disputed by some in the victim's family.

Kate del Castillo recently drew flak for publicly urging Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to put his fortune - estimated by Forbes magazine at $1 billion - and power to work for good causes