The Chapo trial inspires Hollywood

NEW YORK – Eric Newman, executive producer of Netflix's "Narcos: Mexico" series, was absorbed by the Brooklyn District Federal Court hearing room Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez López, former Mexican MP and former lover of drug trafficker El Chapo, testified in tears from the bench.

"I was lucky, it was a very good day"said Newman.

The trial for conspiracy to smuggle drugs against Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo, began in November. Newman stated that it was a "wonderful open book" for him and his team; He went to New York only to badist directly with the process. "Listening to these people in person is impressive."

There have been many "good days" at Brooklyn's Chapo trial; this is for those who are looking for material for a script. For more than ten weeks of testimonials, 56 witnesses summoned by the prosecution describe in detail all the adventures of El Chapo and the cartel of Sinaloa who is accused of leading: the methods that he used to transport tons of cocaine, the bloody killings that he would have ordered and the dynamics and relationships within the criminal organization, almost comes out of Game of thrones.

But the trial also had several absurd moments. Among them, Sánchez López said that El Chapo escaped capture when, naked, he escaped with her in a secret tunnel.

That day that Newman visited the yard, He listened to Sánchez López's story about how he put heart pictures and a number four in the marijuana bags., in reference to the 4 April anniversary of his beloved Guzmán Loera and to the discovery by officers of the Mexican Navy Plastic bananas filled with cocaine at Chapo shelter in Sinaloa after a raid in 2014.

These are anecdotes that Hollywood writers would probably not even have imagined.

And they will surely be profitable for the Newman program, whose first season started at the end of 2018 on Netflix. The series continues with the story begun in Narcos, which tells in three seasons the drug wars in Colombia. between the eighties and nineties, with Pablo Escobar as the first protagonist.

Narcos: Mexico faces the rise in the 80s of the cartel of Guadalajara, directed by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. In this story, Guzmán Loera is a secondary character.

Perhaps part of what has been said in the trial will be found in future scenarios of Narcos: Mexico, which has not yet started production of its second season. Several people related to the series have already sought first-hand research.

"You do not need permission to adapt the story of the most famous drug dealer on the planet."

January 28 the actor Alejandro Edda, who plays Guzmán Loera in the series, He appeared in court to see the events of the day, which added a touch of absurdity to the proceedings. After Chapo's lawyers informed their client that the actor who was playing it in the show was present, the capo turned from his chair to the table opposite and smiled and greeted Edda.

"I did not smile back, I went to show him respect" said Edda, who lives in Mexico. "He's a little surprised, he's got a very intense look, his eyes tell you a lot, it's a little intimidating."

Netflix also co-produced the El Chapo program, a telenovela on the life of Guzmán Loera that ended in 2018 and was created The day I met El Chapo, a mini-documentary series in which Kate del Castillo explains how she helped write Sean Penn's infamous interview. with the capo for Rolling stone

But there may still be room for more projects focused on El Chapo, thanks to the abundant material that was discovered during his trial. Del Castillo tried to get the rights to make a film about the history of Guzmán, But Newman said that he did not think it was necessary to do the process.

"You do not need permission to adapt the story of the most famous drug dealer on the planet"he said. "The best thing to do is to be accused of slander, they have to prove that you are hurting that person. But what could we show to Chapo saying, "Oh, now they are gone, they will stain my reputation"! A try for this position, I would like to see it. "

Newman commented that knowledge had told him that Guzmán Loera loved the first seasons of Narcos. "I do not know if it's good or bad" said Newman. "But I think we have never glorified these guys.They have an incredibly stressful life because they are so desired, or they are dead or captured on a roof."

Tom Fontana, producer of television shows such as Homicide: Life on the Street and Oz, He said that you can imagine a series based on the life of one of the Chapo's lieutenants who became a cooperating witness at this trial.

"It seems to me that El Chapo is the same person at the beginning of the story and now, it's not like there was a moment when he said," Oh, I am a very bad man. "said Fontana. "But someone who has been involved in all of this and changed in opinion, it's a story that would interest me."

Peter Tolan, who has put himself at the head of a Mafia to provoke laughter with his scripts Analízame and Analízate, said that he would like something with a satirical approach to the revelation of the lawsuit that Chapo wanted to write and direct his own biographical film. . "There surely exists a Get Shorty style version, in which a radical Hollywood producer engages with this guy and sees it as the best way to enrich himself", he said, referring to the novel by Elmore Leonard that was adapted into two films and a television series.

Tolan, Fontana and Newman agree on one point: it's a bad idea for Guzmán Loera to make his own film. "I think that he will not be able to separate much from the material", jokes Tolan.

Newman said that Chapo's behavior in court helped him understand the capo's ego. "It's like a circus, it comes and it sends kisses to the illustrators of the court"said Newman. "He seems to really like everything or does not really understand what is reserved for him, it will certainly be the rest of his life in a maximum security prison."

Of course, gangsters and drug traffickers have long been characters that attract attention, from the first version of the 1932 Cara Cup, inspired by the life of Al Capone. Guzmán Loera is part of this tradition. "It's a miniature dynamo," Newman commented on the drug dealer, whose nickname comes from his stature. "It's like a Latin American character of James Cagney."

Unlike Cagney in films like The Public Enemy or Al Rojo vivo, Edda is not the main actor of Narcos: Mexico. The first season ends in 1985, when El Chapo was still a soldier in the organization of Felix Gallardo, played by Diego Luna.

But the time spent on screen by Edda could well increase soon. "At this stage of our history, somebody from secondary", says Newman, "But we will continue to rise in the cartel."

They did not rule out the possibility of doing a derivative series, only about Chapo. "Each season of Narcos is sort of a derivative series," commented Newman. "We are constantly jumping to something that flows from it, because that's what's happening in the world of drug trafficking," for the amount of dead.

Whatever it is, the story of Guzmán Loera will continue, in real life and in Hollywood. "It's crazy, keep going like this till today. "said Edda. "Nobody could have better planned the weather; it's perfect ".

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