Word is coming out of the Cannes Film Festival that actor Oscar Isaac has been cast as Colombian drug cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar for a new movie to be helmed by The Lincoln Lawyer director Brad Furman.
Based on the Black List script by Matt Aldrich, this will be the latest in a long line of attempts at making a movie about Escobar, with the likes of Joe Carnahan and Antoine Fuqua both developing movies about the legendary Colombian drug kingpin that fell through.
By comparison, Furman’s movie already has distribution through Relativity Media and will be produced by Scott Pictures Scott Steindorff along with Film 360’s Scott Lambert, Relativitys Ryan Kavanaugh and Tucker Tooley, and Joseph Khori, and they are already planning to start filming in Colombia in September, so there’s a good chance we’ll see this one come to fruition.
Isaac has been a hard-working actor for many years with a particularly busy 2012, appearing in four movies including The Bourne Legacy. He has been appearing in smaller roles, but there’s a lot of buzz surrounding his performance in Joel and Ethan Coen’s upcoming Inside Llewyn Davis, which may be why he’s in more demand for lead roles like playing Escobar.
Besides the Coens’ movie, Isaac’s upcoming slate includes roles in Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces of January and the Paris-based period piece Therese.
(Photo source: WENN)
