‘Medellin’ Finally a Reality? Not Quite Wright…

For those of you who have been enjoying HBO’s enthralling Iraq War miniseries Generation Kill, this will be welcome news. Evan Wright, who penned the book on which the series is based, has been brought on to adapt Billy Corben’s 2006 doc Cocaine Cowboys for Paramount.

If you missed it (get on that by the way), the film is a high-energy exposé into the inner workings of the Columbian drug trade that hit Miami like a tidal wave in the ‘80s. Told primarily through the eyes of major player Jon Roberts, an ex Vietnam vet turned mob gangster, who not only slung a mountain of rock for the infamous Medellin drug cartel but also acted as middle man for America’s arms dealings with the Contras. Stories of the era inspired both Scarface and Miami Vice for better and for worse (respectively). The doc drew major plaudits from critics but was criminally denied awards recognition.

Mark Wahlberg is set to star as Roberts, which tickles me to no end. Entourage fans will note that the story of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar was a passion project of fictional superstar Vincent Chase, a dream that was finally realized last season in the form of the epic Medellin. Wahlberg, series co-creator and real-life template, is the inspiration behind the Chase character. While Cowboys is not exactly an Escobar biopic, it’s a very funny example of art imitating life imitating art…or something like that. Now if they bring on Adrian Grenier to play Escobar (fat suit and all), THAT will be news! While they’re at it, they can hire Jeremy Piven to play a spastic NARC or DA. Of course Johnny Drama will need a bit part too.

Peter Berg, who’s still got that new money smell from the box office glory of Hancock, is attached to direct. Billy Walsh must have been unavailable (or unwilling…or unconcious). I can’t say I’ve been a fan of Berg, who get’s way too much praise in my opinion. None of his films have risen above mediocrity and his verité, fly-on-the-wall style lacks an artist’s touch (see Paul Greengrass). None of that matters in Hollywood though, especially when your last film pulls in north of $200m. Who knows, maybe his frenetic style will lend itself perfectly to this story and dove-tail with the doc.

Wright had been independently meeting with Roberts and cohort Mickey Munday for months while working on a book about their story before pitching it to studios as a film. “It’s really an exciting story about the secret history of America,” Wright told THR. “It’s also a story that outwardly seems familiar, but the more you get into it, it’s never really been told this way. It’s about a guy who was a cocaine smuggler in a mafia — we kind of know those stories — but he also worked closely with the government to smuggle arms for the Contras.” The scribe will first finish up work on the adaptation of his own Vanity Fair article Pat Dollard’s War on Hollywood for Fox before tackling Cocaine Cowboys.