"HOW HOT IS PABLO ESCOBAR TODAY?"
It all started with HBO's Entourage's fictional movie "Medellin." NOT!
The truth is writer/director Joe Carnahan was the first one in Hollywood to show interest in a project based on the book "Killing Pablo" by Mark Bowden.
And now... Oliver Stone and Company have announced yet another Pablo Escobar movie, as reported in Variety.
Variety - Mon., Oct. 8, 2007
Antoine Fuqua will direct "Escobar," a biopic about the notorious Colombian drug-trafficker Pablo Escobar that aspires to be the first of two rival pics on the subject to make it into production.
Oliver Stone will produce with J2 Pictures partners Justin Berfield and Jason Felts, and James Reach.
Fuqua, Stone and J2 are up against "Killing Pablo," an adaptation of the Mark Bowden book about the hunt for Escobar that Joe Carnahan will direct. Bob Yari is financing that project, with Javier Bardem and Christian Bale attached to star.
Carnahan isn't immediately available, however, because he's committed to directing George Clooney in "White Jazz," a high-profile adaptation of the James Ellroy book.
"Escobar" is based on "Mi Hermano Pablo," a book written by Roberto Escobar Gaviria, who served as his brother's accountant and confidant and whose company, STL Holdings, committed the life and literary rights of the Escobar family.
David McKenna, whose credits include "Blow" and "American History X," is working on a rewrite under the supervision of Stone and Fuqua.
"Escobar" has its financing in place, according to J2 partners Berfield and Felts. Production is slated to begin the in first quarter of 2008 in Colombia and Puerto Rico, and Jere Hausfater will handle international sales through Essential Entertainment. Pic will be introduced at the American Film Market.
Stone, who has covered the drug-smuggling terrain as a screenwriter on "Midnight Express" and "Scarface," also knows a thing or two about winning a biopic race: His movie on Alexander the Great got into production first, halting a rival film on the Macedonian conqueror that Baz Luhrmann was to direct and Leonardo DiCaprio was to topline.
Carnahan has worked for five years on "Killing Pablo." Awareness of the subject was recently heightened by "Medellin," a fictional film that was part of an ongoing storyline in the HBO series "Entourage."
While Carnahan and Yari downplayed a rival's emergence in announcing that their Escobar film was on firm footing, the "Escobar" producers said theirs is an honest depiction of Escobar's rise to become one of the world's richest men by leading the Medellin drug cartel and inflicting terror upon Colombia.
"Joe Carnahan's notion of us poaching his territory and rushing for a pre-strike start is false. We've been working with Robert and a half-dozen consultants for a year and a half to tell an accurate story," said Berfield, the former "Malcolm in the Middle" star who's also mobilizing a feature about Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.
Berfield said that while Escobar's brother is a consultant with a first-hand perspective on how his brother built a drug empire, the sibling doesn't have script approval.
"My brother will be portrayed as a ruthless head of the Medellin cartel," Escobar Gaviria said in a statement. "This is just 10% of the story. The other 90% is the story others trying to portray him simply don't have."
Stone said: "This is a great project about a fascinating man who took on the system. I think I have to thank 'Scarface,' and maybe even Ari Gold." (full article)
Check out the YouTube video, "The True Killing of Pablo Esobar" Part 1 of 10 linked above.
I am personally rooting for Joe Canrahan's movie "Killing Pablo" since it seems he is truly passionate about the project, not just jumping on the bandwagon.
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