If you’re a religious viewer of ‘Entourage’, we probably can’t hang out, but more importantly, you probably remember Vinny Chase’s constantly-in-the-works fictional biopic of Pablo Escobar, ‘Medellin.’ That hasn’t become a reality, but ‘Life Of Pi’ writer Andrea Di Stefano did write and direct a Pablo Escobar movie called ‘Paradise Lost’ (not to be confused with a competing Escobar project from John Leguizamo) starring the very first actor everyone would think of to play Pablo Escobar, Benicio Del Toro. It’s almost as lazy as casting Morgan Freeman as Mandela. But it’s perfect, because you know what they say about Pablo Escobar. He flip you. He flip you for real.
Here’s the trailer:
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As you can see, they’ve taken the ‘Last King Of Scotland’ approach to the material, writing in a fictional white boy ingenue who gets thrown into the orbit of a famously violent criminal by falling for a family member. In this case, the white boy is Josh Hutcherson, who plays a surfer who falls in love with Pablo Escobar’s niece, Maria. Bummer, bra. But at least the role will give Hutcherson the chance to test out that serious face he does a couple hundred more times.
Interestingly, Escobar is depicted not just in his traditional mustache, but with a variety of bushy beards. It’s unclear whether that’s historically accurate, or just something Benicio Del Toro demands in every role. “Yes, I will do it. Now tell me (*long drag on cigarette*): what manner of wolf man would you like me to play?”
[via TheFilmStage, obvi]