Armand Assante should have portrayed Columbus instead of Depardieu

First off, I know this film is not historically accurate when it comes to how things actually took place, that much is certain. As a person who is both a history enthusiast and a cinema enthusiast, it is important for me to realize that these two elements should not be viewed as going hand in hand. Having said that, I feel like Armand Assante was the actor who should have played the lead here: the man has that vibe of majestic Byronism to him, especially in this film.
Granted, a lot of what was wrong with the depiction of Columbus here was the fact that he was both written and portrayed as a one dimensional white hat, almost to the point of him looking like a saint. I feel that portraying Columbus as a deeply flawed yet passionate Byronic protagonist would have made this film a lot better - Armand Assante really would have been the perfect actor to portray that sort of character.