Continuing his ascent as one of Hollywood’s go-to lead actors, Mark Wahlberg is set to star as an international drug dealer in a still untitled film based on real events for Hancock’s Peter Berg. The drug dealer in question is Jon Roberts, who a few of you may have seen in the shockingly good ‘06 documentary Cocaine Cowboys. Roberts operated a few clubs in New York, did a successful stint in Vietnam and soon after migrated to Miami where he became a top domestic distributor for the notorious Medellin cocaine cartel. His power and notoriety reached a level where he could pay off the Miami PD to shut down causeways and race cars, and other madness only seen in the visions of Rockstar Games. He later did a decade in prison. Wahlberg is currently filming Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, followed by Darren Aronofsky’s The Fighter alongside Brad Pitt, and you’ll see him next on screen in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening. Dream a little dream, right?
It’s fascinating to me to see drug dealers become immortalized more and more with their very own Hollywood films. Now, Pablo Escobar is one thing, as anyone who’s read Killing Pablo (in development) can attest. He helped start one of the longest world wars of all time, the so-called War on Drugs. Then there’s George Jung, who had the luck of having Johnny Depp play him in Blow even though he looked more like Pizza the Hut. It’s debated that Jung introduced America to its billion dollar love affair with cocaine.
Most recently, we saw the life of ex-heroin dealer Frank Lucas in American Gangster, and watched the real guy brag to any outlet that would listen that Denzel Washington bought him a large house in appreciation for such a great role. And then Jay-Z got the urge to make a new bestselling album inspired by Lucas and the film. I’m not going to lie, I thought American Gangster was ethically questionable, basically attempting to mold an important historical figure out of foul air. And perhaps the dudes in Entourage would have been better off bringing the life story of the Ramones to the big screen, instead?
How do you feel about the new drug dealer biopic trend?
Source Link: Variety
January 18th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Like George said in Blow ” it’s just some plants crossing an imaginary line”
What can I say the big ones lead “Rock star” like lives, so it makes for good entertainment.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
definately a fun trend. drugs shouldn’t/can’t be illegal. the war was lost before it begun. I wonder why the USA has more percentage incarcerated then any other country (even more then iran or china). war on drugs buddy.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I agree that these movies paint a somewhat heroic picture of some pretty bad people. And in the case of American Gangster: 1 the movie is ok, but certainly not worthy of the awards and acclaim it is recieving 2 the only reason that guy cooperated w the cops is because he got caught. There is nothing noble or heroic about him at all. Yes it was rare for a black man to rise to that type of power back then, but no matter the race - a violent drug dealer is a violent drug dealer…
January 18th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I dont really care. Movies are movies and theyre meant to be enjoyed. If dealing drugs does so then thats fine. who cares.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
My favorite Drug movie is SPUN… watched it at least 20 times… Micky Rourkes best film in years.
I don’t mind most of these drug films… Sure it glamorizes them…but while it lasts IT IS glamorous.. but like all drugs…theres the inevitable come down. Fact is drugs will make you a lot of money and you will have a lot of fun doing and dealing them…..but you will also get caught eventually and go to jail for a long time or be killed.
So I don’t see that as a bad thing making a movie about them since I’ve yet to see one that ended happily ever after.
January 19th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Cocaine Cowboy? is this the George W. Bush biopic?
January 19th, 2008 at 12:58 am
@RedandJonny
Well, I’d argue that American Gangster ended happily ever after. Frank Lucas is now immortalized in a $100 million film that will be watched for the next 50 years at least. We all know that films often take precedent over history books. He also has a house purchased by Denzel Washington and no doubt received a fair-to-large payment for his life story, which will be milked for book deals and TV specials and whatever else he can do on the internet. He also had an album made in his honor by the biggest recording artist this side of the Beatles, Eagles and Elvis: Jay-Z.
The unhappy ending occurred for the DEA agents who actually took Lucas down, who had their reps tarnished in what almost amounts to libel. Meanwhile, Crowe’s character, Richard Roberts, is argued by the very same officers to not have played close to a major role in Lucas’s bust. And what does Lucas have to say about Roberts in the movie: “They [the producers] wanted a white boy.” That’s from the news today.
And if you’ve seen Cocaine Cowboys, you’ll see the Jon Roberts is living comfortably and healthily. Soon, he’ll be a star in his on right on a worldwide scale. He’ll prob come close to attaining the lifestyle he once had. Sucks for him, I know. I mean, I wouldn’t want my life story highly romanticized and played by Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg. Hah.
June 24th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
U sound a little bitter man. These are movies based on real people and real events. This so called glorification of these dudes in movies adds all to the experience of going to the movies and watching movies. Its the allure of breaking the law and making millions of dollars, the positive angle with making these movies is all to add to the experience. I don’t want to leave the movies depressed, I wanna leave the movies saying damn he almost got away or maybe if he would have did this or that. Plus as in all of these real life stories, the guys either go to jail or end up dead. No one who was ever big time has left the game early enough to survive. Which in turns shows that this is not the life to lead. To put it short, its just like Jay-Z said “ITS ONLY ENTERTAINMENT!”