Notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar has captured the public imagination due to both to his extraordinary success and wealth thanks to his criminal activities and the brutality with which he cut down anybody in his path. At the height of his powers in the late ’80s, Forbes listed him as the seventh richest person in the world and while he would die only a few short years later at the age of 44, even at the end of his life he courted controversy with competing versions of just how one of the most powerful figures of our time met his fateful end.
Hollywood has certainly been trying to make a movie out his extraordinary life with Oliver Stone and Joe Carnahan prepping “Escobar” and “Killing Pablo” at various points (both projects are now on hold), and hell, even “Entourage” made a biopic a major arc of its third and fourth seasons. However, a new kid on the block riding high on a big spring hit is now hoping he’ll be the guy to make it happen, as THR reports that Brad Furman is attached to helm a currently untitled film about Pablo Escobar.
Furman has had a pretty nice year so far with “The Lincoln Lawyer” becoming a sleeper success, and he was also set to direct “Cry Macho” as Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s comeback vehicle until the whole infidelity scandal put the kibosh on that. Furman was also linked up to another drug world drama, “Intricate,” earlier this year but his new project now seems to be have the steam behind it.
Matt Aldrich, who penned “Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses” that is now set up over at Warner Bros. as a directing vehicle for Matt Damon, will be writing the script for the project that producer Scott Steindorff ambitiously describes as a mix between “The Godfather” and a war movie.
Everyone involved looks to be swinging for the fences but a note of caution should be added here as well. Steindorff has also been behind failed and forgettable South American produced films like the botched adaptation of “Love in the Time of Cholera” and the backpacking horror flick “Turistas.” The Escobar story is ripe with potential but let’s hope it’s not just turned into a glossy (though empty) pic like “Scarface” and reaches for something more nuanced. Certainly, invoking the name of Francis Ford Coppola‘s masterpiece is a step in the right direction.
No word yet on who will take on the title role, but with “Entourage” ending this summer, Adrian Grenier is going to be looking for some work.
