The biopic is based on journalist Mark Bowden's 2001 best-selling book, Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw. Variety reports that the project was once set up with Paramount and Dreamworks co-financing and Bob Yari and Mark Gordon producing. Killing Pablo has been in development for five years now, the trade paper says.
One additional character may be accounted for, in the person of Benicio Del Toro, whom Yari is reportedly trying to convince to play Col. Hugo Martinez, the leading Colombian figure in the search for Escobar. Escobar is notorious for the astonishing wealth he managed to obtain through his drug cartel.
Born in Medellin, Colombia, in 1949, Escobar was a feared drug lord by the 1970s. In 1989, at the height of his career, Forbes magazine confirmed his incredible wealth, naming him the seventh richest man in the world. His life was not without violence he exterminated rivals and dealt with local authorities either through bribes or through death.
He put his money to the use of the community as well, building churches and sponsoring kids' sports teams in Colombian slums, per Variety. He gave money to the poor and thus assured himself of many allies. He died in 1993, in a shoot-out in Medellin.
By this time, he was targeted by Colombian police and military, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, in a massive manhunt.
In a statement, Bob Yari said he was not disappointed that it took so long for this film to come together. This has been a passion project of mine and it will be a tent pole for our company, he said. It was worth the wait, and now the life of Pablo Escobar and one of the largest manhunts ever mounted will be realized to its full cinematic potential.
Christian Bale currently stars in the remake of the 1957 western 3:10 to Yuma, alongside Russell Crowe. The movie opened in early September at No. 1 in the North American box office and was well-received by critics.
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