TV: Behind the scenes of Narcos

Since the television show Narcos aired on Netflix, the show has been a success. Narcos is a true-to-life documentary about the rise of a cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. The show reflects on a period in time when Escobar's Medellin cartel controlled most of the cousins that entered the United States and Europe. As we all know, in order to obtain success in the drug industry you have to be ruthless. It was said that Pablo himself killed an estimated 1,000 police officers and bribed countless government officials, judges and politicians.

Actor Amiable Moura who's portraying Pablo, hails from Brazil. He had to gain 40 pounds and spend 5 months at a Medellin University learning Spanish for the role. Apparently this was all new for Moura. He was quoted saying "I didn't know anything about Pablo, and the only thing I remember is the dead body of a fat guy on the roof of a house... And the bombs in Bogota, of course. But I was a kid. Now I think I've read and seen everything that was ever written or produced about Pablo."

On set of "Narcos": We're in a lot of different places," says executive producer Eric Newman. Two days after THR visited the Bogota set, the production moved to Medellin for a few days.

Memorabilia

Moura (center) gained more than 40 pounds to play Escobar, and the Brazil native spent five months learning Spanish for the role.

Narcos could have chosen nearly any Latin American country as its chief location, but Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos encouraged the production to use the actual terrain where Escobar’s story unfolded.

Relics from Escobar’s reign speak to the type of man he was: He carried this small pistol at all times — and hid it in a law book, thinking the cops would never search it. He was right. Says Newman, “He was a family man and a murdering sociopath.” Adds Moura: “He was a mean person, but he died because he was trying to take his family out of Colombia. He was all about his kids.”

reminders and memorabilia of Escobar’s brutal, bloody reign are on display in a basement museum in Bogota’s central police station, where his guns, motorcycle, pager, photographs and “Wanted” posters are preserved under glass.

 

While not exactly painting the drug trafficker as a sympathetic character, Moura shows the human side of Escobar: “He was a human being, he was a great father, but I’m totally aware of what he did to the country.”