My Wish Has Been Granted! Benidio del Toro to play Pablo Escobar

He's arguably one of the best actors of my generation; He's been described to be gracious, yet moody at times..He's mysterious, yet also charismatic   I've been obsessed with the idea of a actual movie being made on the life Pablo Escrobar, yet there's always been an issue..

Here's the thing - Escobar has been at the center of multiple projects that have developed, but never actually made it to the screen. Way back when there was a version with Javier Bardem and Christian Bale called Killing Pablo, which had Joe Carnahan attached to direct. 

 

                          

Eventually another film popped up with Antoine Fuqua and Oliver Stone producing called Escobar; both of the projects purportedly had Edgar Ramirez attached to play Escobar. Neither came to fruition, so now we're on to the next iteration. Furman is coming off of some solid success with Lincoln Lawyer, maybe he can pull some weight and get this into production.



           














Variety has the details on the project, which isn’t at all the biopic Del Toro’s agents likely hoped it might’ve been when he was initially approached (just guessing; as Day-Lewis will soon attest, big-time bio’s make Academy members smile).

"Inspired by true events, pic turns on Nick, a young surfer who visits his brother in Colombia and falls madly in love with a beautiful local girl called Maria. Their romance seems idyllic until he meets her uncle, Escobar.

Italian thesp-turned-filmmaker Andrea di Stefano (“Life of Pi”) penned the script and is set to make his directorial debut with “Paradise.”

Del Toro is “one of the rare actors with enough charisma and range to play such a multi-faceted character as Escobar, who could be wonderfully charming yet dangerous and menacing,” Rassam said.

He noted that “Paradise” isn’t an Escobar biopic. It “will have a narrative structure in the vein of ‘The Last King of Scotland,’ weaving Nick and Maria’s romance with Nick’s ambivalent and destructive relationship with Escobar,” Rassam explained.

The 11-week shoot will kick off in March in Panama.

When we spoke to Del Toro last month, he wondered whether he might be part of the “Sin City” sequel. Still no word on that.