The drug war is a tough subject, but The Lincoln Lawyer director Brad Furman thinks he’s up for the task, as he is now in talks to direct an untitled biopic about infamous Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar, according to THR.
Matthew Aldrich (who made waves in Hollywood with his spec script Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses sold to Warner Bros. earlier this year) will write the screenplay for this untitled biopic, which is described as a cross between The Godfather and a war movie. Producer Scott Steindorff had this to say, “This is the Latino Godfather. We’re showing the story of his family, the structure of his enterprise, his rise – the man had the largest criminal organization in the world. In the end, it was a war between Colombia and one man.”
This is not the first time Hollywood has been interested in Pablo Escobar. Oliver Stone was trying to put together a biopic on the drug lord recently, and another biopic, Killing Pablo, based on Mark Bowden’s book, has also been shelved. The problem is the drug war is still such a contentious issue that finding a script that doesn’t scare off investors is tough – especially as a figure like Escobar is a hero to some and a villain to others. Just on Friday, Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez was arrested and has apparently admitted to ordering over 1500 murders as the leader of a gang affiliated with a drug cartel in Mexico’s border regions. It’s certainly a live issue.