The six-episode TV series will chronicle the complex, successful and tragic life of Griselda Blanco, a Colombian woman who is said to have created one of the most profitable cartels in history. While supposedly a devoted mother, she was also a brutal cartel head who built a billion-dollar-worth drug empire that extended from her home country to the United States. Her ruthlessness and drug-trafficking prominence earned her nicknames like “Black Widow,” “Godmother of cocaine” and “La Madrina,” or the Godmother. Reportedly she was responsible for much of the drug-related violence that engulfed Miami during the Cocaine Cowboy Wars in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“Griselda Blanco was a larger-than-life character whose ruthless but ingenious tactics allowed her to rule a billion-dollar empire years before many of the most notorious male kingpins we know so much about,” says Vergara. The Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG-nominated actress had been developing the project for eight years through her company Latin World Entertainment before taking it to Netflix. 

The series’ executive producers are Vergara and her partner Luis Balaguer at Latin World Entertainment. The creative team behind another popular Netflix show about drug lords, Narcos, Eric Newman, Doug Miro, Andrés Baiz and Carlo Bernard are also on board to executive producer with Baiz also on board to direct all six episodes. 

The show will be penned by Ingrid Escajeda, whose writing credits include the multiple Primetime Emmy Award-winning FX action crime series Justified. She co-wrote Griselda‘s first episode with Miro, who did the screenplays for Netflix’s two other successful series about drug lords, Narcos and Narcos: Mexico. Escajeda will serve as showrunner and also executive produce. 

For his part, Peter Friedlander, vice president of Ucan Scripted Series for Netflix, praises exec producer Newman, who also produced the three-time Oscar-nominated film Children of Men by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón.

“Eric Newman has deftly brought to life among the most dynamic characters and stories on screen today,” says Friedlander. “We’re excited to continue on this creative path with him and for this collaboration with Sofia Vergara—a force in entertainment and a world-beloved talent.”

Vergara is best known for playing Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the five-time Emmy Award-winning ABC comedy Modern Family. She recently wrapped her second season as a judge on the NBC hit summer series America’s Got Talent. Her movie credits include Bottom of the 9th, New Year’s Eve, Four Brothers and Hot Pursuit, the latter opposite Oscar-winner Resse Witherspoon and on which she also served as a producer. In the 1990s, Vergara established Latin World Entertainment, dubbed as a full-service, diversified entertainment and media company with a specialty in client management, production and licensing. 

Featured Photo: Sofia Vergara (Credit: Netflix)

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Argentinian-born Executive VP of Film Production at Marvel Studios Alonso is one of five executive producers who pulled all the financial resources needed to make the $200 million action movie. 

As the cinematographer, Mexico City native Beristain is responsible for the look and feel of the flick.

Delayed for more than a year due to the pandemic, Black Widow was shown exclusively for fans on a big screen on June 29. Alonso said that “there’s something really special about going to the movies,” while being interviewed on one of the first in-person red carpets to be held in Hollywood right after the pandemic restrictions were lifted. Beristain described attending an actual Hollywood premiere as “unbelievable.”

Black Widow opens in theaters nationwide on July 9. Scarlett Johansson is back as ex-Russian spy Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War. Her co-stars are Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, William Hurt, Ray Winstone and Rachel Weisz. The Marvel Studios film is directed by Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland, who has experience with flicks about strong women.

Alonso and Beristain come with much experience to the Avengers franchise, so much that they both crossed paths on all three Iron Man installments and two Thor sequels.

Alonso was born in Buenos Aires but her aspirations to be part of Hollywood led her to immigrate to New York in her late teens and later to Los Angeles. Her early credits include visual effects in Cats & Dogs, Big Fish and her first superhero movie in 2008, Iron Man, which she also co-produced. She became executive vice president of visual effects and postproduction at Marvel in 2005 and was later promoted to executive vice president of film production. The Argentinian has worked as a producer or executive producer in pretty much every other Avenger and Marvel superhero film, more than 20, including Captain America, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man, among others.

Avengers: Endgame won Alonso a Hollywood Film Award in 2019. She is also the recipient of the Harold Lloyd Award for her achievements in visual effects. 

Last year, Alonso received the Filmmaker’s Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors during the 67th annual edition of the Golden Reel Awards.

For his part, Beristain initially studied engineering at Mexico City’s Instituto Politécnico Nacional but later pursued a master’s degree in film. After graduating he made documentaries on social issues and launched a commercials production company. In 1977 he decided to move to Italy and later to England to expand his filmmaking career. 

Organically, his documentary work turned him into a cinematographer. He eventually enrolled at the National Film + Television School in London, where he won a student competition sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1982, and then returned to his native Mexico. He worked in the Colombian film Carne de Tu Carne and then decided to go back to England, where he spent over a decade. “I was also shooting multi-million dollar commercials, which was glamorous work,” recalls Beristain in his biography.

At the suggestion of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Allen Daviau of E.T and The Color Purple fame, the Mexican filmmaker eventually relocated to Los Angeles in 1991. “He said I could be part of the future of the industry in America, because of my understanding of the Anglo and Hispanic cultures,” recalls Beristain. 

The cinematographer film credits include the Mexican feature El Cometa, which earned him a nomination to the Silver Ariel, and Princess Ka’iulani. 

In Hollywood, he worked as part of the camera and electrical department in nearly 20 features that included superhero movies like The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok.

His Hollywood cinematographer credits include the films Blood In, Blood Out, Blade II and Blade: Trinity and Guillermo Del Toro’s horror series The Strain.

Black Widow is the first Marvel superhero film in which Beristain works as director of photography. 

Featured Photo: Victoria Alonso (Credit: Marvel Cinematic Universe); Gabriel Beristain (Credit: Self)

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It took a while for Black Widow, the popular heroine of Marvel Comics’ The Avengers franchise to have her own film. Opening nationwide this weekend, Black Widow was made with the talents of director Cate Shortland, the creation of Stan Lee and the screenplay of Eric Pearson. The movie comes together with the talents of Producer Kevin Feige and executive produced for Marvel by Argentina-born Victoria Alonso (Avengers: End Game) and shot beautifully by Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Beristain (Iron Man).

Scarlett Johansson returns as ex-Russian spy Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War. On the run and forced to confront her past before she became an Avenger, Black Widow faces a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down. 

Co-starring in the film are Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, William Hurt, Ray Winstone and Rachel Weisz. The film is directed by Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland, who has previously helmed movies about strong women like Berlin Syndrome, Lore and Somersault.

Black Widow is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Featured Photo: Scarlett Johansson in ‘Black Widow’ (Credit: Marvel Studios)

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