Has Carnahan stolen Oliver Stone's PABLO from under his nose?!?
Edgar Ramirez leaves one biopic of Pablo Escobar, for another?
Now this is either weird as shit crazy, the smartest actor coup ever pulled off between duelling projects or someone, somewhere, has got their wires terribly crossed. CHUD are reporting that Edgar Ramirez will be Javier Bardem's replacement as the infamous Columbian drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar in Joe Carnahan's long time in development next movie Killing Pablo. Which all things considered after his great turns in The Bourne Ultimatum, Domino and his big upcoming roles in the two Soderbergh biopics of Che Guevara, hardly seems a bad choice at all. The thing is Oliver Stone had already thought the same thing and had cast Ramirez for his version which Antoine Fuqua is directing!
So this is one story that you would instantly through out of the window as being NOT TRUE... someone clearly getting their wires mixed up somewhere but then you hear who CHUD's source was. Joe Carnahan himself! He says..."I spent the last week in Colombia with Edgar Ramirez talking 'Pablo' and he has every intention of portraying Escobar and I couldn't be more fired up by the prospect. He's coming at it with boundless enthusiasm, conviction to the role and and the understanding that he's going to have to pack on anywhere from 35 to 40lbs."Has the director just plucked the leading star of his rival project? Smart, smart, smart move. Ramirez had probably already been preparing for the role somewhat and when script problems halted the Oliver Stone/Antoine Fuqua project, Carnahan did well to step in and make the bad situation of losing one of the best actors of modern day cinema into something much easier to swallow. So what's the truth then. Has Ramirez really left one Pablo project for another and are we finally any steps closer to see this movie come to fruition?