Filming to begin early 2014.
Paramount Pictures has tapped Mark Wahlberg to star in an adaptation of the Jon Roberts and Evan Wright’s book ‘American Desperado’ with Peter Berg (‘Battleship,’ ‘Hancock,’ ‘The Kingdom’) on board to direct, says Deadline. The book, published in 2011, is officially described as follows:
“In 2008 veteran journalist Evan Wright, acclaimed for his New York Times bestselling book ‘Generation Kill’ and co-writer of the Emmy-winning HBO series it spawned, began a series of conversations with super-criminal Jon Roberts, star of the fabulously successful documentary ‘Cocaine Cowboys.’ Those conversations would last three years, during which time Wright came to realize that Roberts was much more than the de-facto “transportation chief” of the Medellin Cartel during the 1980s, much more than a facilitator of a national drug epidemic. As Wright’s tape recorder whirred and Roberts unburdened himself of hundreds of jaw-dropping tales, it became clear that perhaps no one in history had broken so many laws with such wilful abandon.
Roberts, in fact, seemed to be a prodigy of criminality – but one with a remarkable self-awareness and a fierce desire to protect his son from following the same path.
‘American Desperado’ is Roberts’ no-holds-barred account of being born into Mafia royalty, witnessing his first murder at the age of seven, becoming a hunter-assassin in Vietnam, returning to New York to become — at age 22 — one of the city’s leading nightclub impresarios, then journeying to Miami where in a few short years he would rise to become the Medellin Cartel’s most effective smuggler.”
The studio is believed to be eyeing an early 2014 start with Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan (‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For,’ ‘Body of Lies,’ ‘The Departed’) providing the script.
Wahlberg and Berg recently teamed up on the Afghan war drama ‘Lone Survivor.’ The film, based on former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell’s book of the same name, is scheduled to arrive in Irish cinemas February 2014.