Via Deadline comes the news that Relativity Media will produce King of Cocaine, a biopic of the Medellin Cartel’s notorious kingpin Pablo Escobar that will be directed by Brad Furman, who is wearing a sideways hat and Good Charlotte t-shirt in his IMDB profile pic because YOLO, bro-bro. Also known as The Ballad of Pablo Escobar, King of Cocaine is one of those films that has been talked about for years but simply never come to fruition, but that all seems to be changing now that Relativity is on board.
And as the starring role was once thought to belong to Oscar Isaac, he dropped out and John Leguizamo was signed on to star as Escobar because he basically pulled a successful Sean Young by purchasing a costume and annoying the hell out of the producers until they said yes.
After Inside Llewyn Davis star Isaac dropped out, Leguizamo was once again told no by producer Scott Steindorff, with whom he had just worked in the Jon Favreau-directed Chef. Leguizamo then went out and spent upwards of $15,000 of his own money for a fat suit and prosthetic makeup that rendered him a dead ringer for Escobar at his prime. Leguizamo filmed his own screen test, and got Steindorff to submit it to Relativity execs and Furman, without disclosing the identity of the actor. They liked the test enough to ask who it was, and Leguizamo was hired shortly after that to star in the $25 million film. (Via Deadline)
Young, of course, was originally cast as Vikki Vale in Tim Burton’s Batman, but she had to drop out because she was injured when she fell off her horse. The next year, Young famously dressed up as Catwoman and basically ambushed Burton and Michael Keaton to convince them that she should be in Batman Returns and play the Catwoman instead of Annette Benning, who was the original choice before she found out she was pregnant and backed out, allowing Michelle Pfeffer to take the role.
Anyway, the point of this trip down memory lane is to remind everyone not to ride horses, I think.