Though Josh Hutcherson and Benicio Del Toro have been grabbing headlines recently for instigating district uprisings and collating precious galactic jewels, the acting pair are poised to unite for Andrea Di Stefano’s directorial debut and fictional biopic, Escobar: Paradise Lost.
As the title implies, Di Stefano’s maiden project orbits around the world’s most infamous drug lord, Pablo Escobar, who governs his cocaine empire with an iron fist. Step forward, Josh Hutcherson. The Hunger Games star is set to play a young student who travels to Colombia only to fall in love with a local. That local, as things would have it, happens to be the niece of Escobar himself.
From the trailer, the film seems to have a similar dynamic to that found in The Last King of Scotland, where an unassuming white man falls in love and, subsequently, falls into the bad books of a world renown criminal. And though Stefano has taken some creative liberties and allowed the film to diverge from factual events, it is still expected to project the twilight years Escobar’s reign as accurately as possible.
Having premiered at Telluride only a few days ago, Escobar: Paradise Lost has since garnered positive early feedback, though we’ll have to wait until the film is screened over the next few days to culminate a more in-depth opinion. Early indicators do indeed look positive, though. Besides, what better way for Hutcherson to broaden his acting spectrum than trying to evade the cartel’s unforgiving reign of terror, right?