Retro IONCINEMA.com
Project Redlight: Killing Pablo
Stalled film projects are not only frustrating for those directly involved (studios, producers, novelists) – it can make movie audiences pant like they once did when it was pre gift unwrapping on Christmas morning or the last day of school before summer vacation.
Cocaine, money, power, corruption. The rudiments that made a film like Scarface a cult classic might also place a project like Killing Pablo on the same pedestal. I can only imagine the frenzy of interest from buyers moments before the riveting account of Columbia’s most powerful man and his demise made was published in book form. So why the wait?
The book was a riveting read (the many unsuccessful attempts at capturing the kingpin keeps the timeline interesting) and the geographical displacements will make for a visually interesting drama, but perhaps the stalling has nothing to do with lack of interest but instead – Joe Carnahan’s abundance of other projects falling into his laps and perhaps the scope of the projected film – it’s a production that will be extremely costly.
With two of this generations best actors in Bardem and Bale potentially onboard for the main roles, here’s hoping that this gets pulled off the backburner at becomes blockbuster before this decade is up.
Carnahan recently addressed the status of his project via his own blog stating, “despair no further. KILLING PABLO will probably happen as soon as I wrap WHITE JAZZ. I am obsessed with that story and have absolutely no intention of letting it go. Don’t worry.”
In comparison to many of the projects we’ll be featuring in this monthly piece, this project actualy does stand a chance at getting made sometime soon…I guess it all depends how many more times Carnahan can get distracted. For those not familair with the project: here are some vitals below.
December 1, 1949: Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria is born.
December 1st, 1983: Scarface directed by Brian De Palma is released in NYC.
1989: Escobar is ranked as the seventh richest man in the world.
1993: Bruce Porter’s 1993 book Blow: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million With the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All hits bookstores.
1997: Writer/director Joe Carnahan premieres his Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane at the New York Independent Feature Film Market and then a couple of months later at the Sundance Film Festival.
April 6th, 2001: Blow directed by Ted Demme is released. This is based on the real-life story of George Jung, Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder and the Medellín Cartel.
December 17th, 2002: Carnahan releases Narc. Popular among critics and perhaps the DVD market, thus attracting the attention of producers/studios.
In the same year that Ridley Scott brought author Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down to the big screen, Bowden released a book based on the notorious Escobar called: Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw.
January 18th 2003: Variety reports that Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks are co-financing Killing Pablo with Joe Carnahan to direct. Carnahan is expected to complete the script in May with filming to begin in the second half of this year.
Casting rumors begin: Javier Bardem gets attached to play Escobar.
February 26th 2003: Carnahan drifts away from KP. He is solicited to direct Mission Impossible III, produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner (who also executive produced Narc).
July 18th 2004: After wasting more than a year – Carnahan leaves MI3 due to “creative differences”.
August 6th 2005: Sidetracked again. Carnahan will direct Smokin’ Aces.
November 30th 2006. More distractions. White Jazz to star George Clooney sees Carnahan direct from a script by his brother Matthew Carnahan.
March 8th 2007: Reese Witherspoon pulls out from Bunny Lake Is Missing. Carnahan is pissed (with good reason). Slate appears to be clear after Clooney project.
Casting rumor #2: Christian Bale attached to play the role of Major Steve Jacoby – the film’s protagonist.
July 16th 2007. Like Aquaman before it, HBO’s Entourage has fun at playing fake trailer for fake movie. Headline: “Vincent Chase stars in Medellin”.
