Sofia Vergara to Play ‘Griselda’ at Netflix From ‘Narcos’ Team – The Hollywood Reporter
Sofia Vergara is readying to play the Black Widow.
In her first function since wrapping Trendy Household, Vergara shall be making a dramatic flip to play Griselda Blanco, the Colombian drug lord broadly often known as the “Black Widow,” for a six-episode restricted sequence at Netflix titled Griselda. Vergara may even govt produce.
Griselda is the most recent sequence from author and govt producer Eric Newman beneath his general deal on the streaming big. Newman, who served as showrunner for 5 seasons of Narcos and Narcos: Mexico, stays an govt producer on the forthcoming third season of Narcos: Mexico. Doug Miro, Andrés Baiz and Carlo Bernard, who’re all aside of the Narcos artistic workforce, will govt produce alongside Luis Balaguer; Baiz, a Colombian native, will direct all six episodes. Ingrid Escajeda (Justified, Empire) serves as showrunner.
Regardless of having the Narcos workforce hooked up, Netflix stresses that the sequence will not be a by-product from its fashionable drug cartel drama sequence. (Any connection to the Narcos franchise would doubtless have elevated the prices of creating Griselda.) The Colombian-born Vergara and Balaguer had been creating the venture for eight years at their Latin World Leisure banner earlier than bringing it to Netflix. “Griselda Blanco was a larger-than-life character whose ruthless however ingenious techniques allowed her to rule a billion-dollar empire years earlier than lots of the most infamous male kingpins we all know a lot about,” says Vergara. “We’re thrilled to have discovered the right companions in Eric, Andrés and Netflix to assist us carry this story of her life to the display screen.”
Newman provides, “Griselda Blanco has lengthy been a ardour venture for Sofia and we’re grateful that she and her companions at LatinWe have chosen us to assist her inform that story. Sofia is an excellent expertise and her ardour mixed with a improbable story from Doug and Ingrid, and the wonderful Andrés Baiz on the directing helm, means we’ve got a really thrilling sequence to share with audiences.”
Regardless of her proximity to Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel, Griselda was by no means a featured character on Narcos. The feminine narco — who glided by the names the Black Widow, La Madrina and the Cocaine Godmother — was one of the vital highly effective cocaine traffickers within the Nineteen Eighties. Her story has beforehand been advised on the display screen, together with within the 2017 movie Cocaine Godmother the place she was portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The logline from Netflix reads: “Griselda chronicles the real-life of savvy and bold Colombian enterprise lady, Griselda Blanco, who created one of the vital worthwhile cartels in historical past. A faithful mom, Blanco’s deadly mix of appeal and unsuspecting savagery helped her expertly navigate between household and enterprise main her to grow to be broadly often known as the Black Widow.”
Newman originated and introduced the Narcos franchise to Netflix in 2014. Along with being EP on the ultimate season of Narcos: Mexico, which releases this week, his TV slate on the streamer consists of the upcoming restricted sequence True Story, starring and govt produced by Kevin Hart, the opioid TV drama Painkiller and The Watcher with Ryan Murphy. On the movie aspect, he’s in manufacturing on his third Netflix movie, Escape From Spiderhead; and in pre-production on Zack Snyder’s Insurgent Moon and a sequel to Shiny. Additionally within the works is The Higher World starring Daniel Kaluuya.
“Eric Newman has deftly dropped at life among the many most dynamic characters and tales on display screen right now. We’re excited to proceed on this artistic path with him and for this collaboration with Sofia Vergara — a pressure in leisure and a world-beloved expertise. With an unbelievable workforce on the helm — we will’t watch for the world to see how Ingrid Escajeda, Doug Miro, and Andrés Baiz tackle the twists and turns of Griselda Blanco’s epic story,” says Peter Friedlander, vp of scripted sequence at Netflix.
Vergara, who lately ended her run on the five-time Emmy Award-winning ABC comedy Trendy Household, additionally lately wrapped her second season as a choose on NBC’s America’s Acquired Expertise. Her movie credit embody Backside of the ninth, reverse companion Joe Manganiello, New 12 months’s Eve, 4 Brothers, Chef, Huge Hassle and Scorching Pursuit, the latter on which Vergara additionally served as a producer.
