The upcoming biographical Escobar already has a lot to live up to, but Variety reports that two heavyweight actors will make that task a little bit easier. The production reports that Javier Bardem and Peter Sarsgaard have been inked for the project.
For a bit of icing, Bardem's wife, Penelope Cruz, has been cast to possibly portray the Colombian drug kingpin's love interest Virginia Vallejo. We should know more shortly, as the pieces are being put into position during this pre-production stage.
Four producing members have signed on in the form of Dean Nichols, Christa Campbell, Ed Cathell, and Lati Grobman. Fernando Leon De Aranoa will have the huge task of writing and directing the film. The helmer's goal will be to offer something fresh and insightful not yet seen on the big screen of the real life gangster. That challenge is not to be underestimated.
Pablo Escobar Hot Property For Film and TV
When production starts in earnest next month, Sarsgaard will take on the role Neymar, a DEA agent who spent his career on the hunt to bring down the renegade. But this being a story told so often of late, Bardem, Cruz and Sarsgaard will have to create something unique from a well-worn narrative that has been displayed on the big and small screen.
The Netflix series Narcos gave an in-depth version of his downfall across two seasons as Benicio Del Toro played the murderer in 2014's Escobar: Paradise Lost. Then Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston took on the role of a U.S. Customs official who uncovered Escobar's operation in 2016's The Infiltrator. So it is fair to conclude that this is not new ground they are treading on here.
Bardem Thrives On Being The Sinister Villain Of The Piece
Few have managed to creep out audiences quite like Javier Bardem. His performance in No Country For Old Men still provides chills all these years later. Playing a hitman that hunted down his prey in a cold calculating fashion courtesy of a bolt gun.
Then the Spaniard proved that was not a fluke. He did likewise with the James Bond hit Skyfall, when he played the vengeful Silva. It is hard to think of a real life villain that has less redeemable features than Pablo Escobar, so it looks like a match made in heaven (or hell), regardless of the recent competition.
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