Books Escobar has been the subject of several books, including the following: •
Escobar (2010), by Roberto Escobar, written by his brother shows how he became infamous and ultimately died. • •
Kings of Cocaine (1989), by Guy Gugliotta, retells the history and operations of the Medellín Cartel, and Escobar's role within it. • ''
Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw'' (2001), by
Mark Bowden, relates how Escobar was killed and his cartel dismantled by U.S. special forces and intelligence, the
Colombian military, and
Los Pepes. •
Pablo Escobar: My Father (2016), by Juan Pablo Escobar, translated by Andrea Rosenberg. •
Pablo Escobar: Beyond Narcos (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells the story of Escobar and the Medellín Cartel in the context of the failed War on Drugs; •
Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar (2019), by
Stephen Murphy and
Javier F. Peña, former DEA agents on the hunt for Pablo Escobar in the 1990s. •
American Made: Who Killed Barry Seal? Pablo Escobar or George HW Bush (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells Pablo's story as a suspect in the murder of CIA pilot Barry Seal; •
Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar (2017) by
Virginia Vallejo, originally published by
Penguin Random House in Spanish in 2007, and later translated to 16 languages. •
News of a Kidnapping, (original Spanish title:
Noticia de un secuestro) non-fiction 1996 book by Gabriel García Márquez, and published in English in 1997.
Films Two major
feature films on Escobar,
Escobar (2009) and
Killing Pablo (2011), were announced in 2007. Details about them, and additional films about Escobar, are listed below. •
Blow, a 2001 American biographical film based on
George Jung, a member of the Medellín Cartel; Escobar was portrayed by
Cliff Curtis. •
Pablo Escobar: The King of Coke (2007) is a TV movie documentary by
National Geographic, featuring archival footage and commentary by stakeholders. •
Escobar (2009) was delayed because of producer
Oliver Stone's involvement with the
George W. Bush biopic
W. (2008). As of 2008, the release date of
Escobar remained unconfirmed. Regarding the film, Stone said: "This is a great project about a fascinating man who took on the system. I think I have to thank
Scarface, and maybe even
Ari Gold." •
Killing Pablo (2011) was supposedly in development for several years, directed by
Joe Carnahan. It was to be based on
Mark Bowden's
2001 book of the same title, which in turn was based on his 31-part
Philadelphia Inquirer series of articles on the subject. In December 2008,
Bob Yari, producer of
Killing Pablo, filed for bankruptcy. •
Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014) a romantic thriller in which a naive Canadian surfer falls in love with a girl who turns out to be Escobar's niece. •
Loving Pablo (2017), Spanish film based on
Virginia Vallejo's book
Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar with
Javier Bardem as Escobar, and
Penélope Cruz as
Virginia Vallejo. •
American Made (2017), American action-comedy film loosely based on the life of
Barry Seal; Escobar was portrayed by Mauricio Mejía. •
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022), American biopic parody loosely based on the life of
"Weird Al" Yankovic;
Arturo Castro portrays Escobar who is depicted as a Weird Al fan who kidnaps Weird Al's girlfriend,
Madonna, to lure him to play at his fortieth birthday party. Weird Al instead murders him. • Escobar served as the basis for four action films in the 1990s. •
Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection, a 1990 action film, starring Chuck Norris, had the main villain Ramon Cota heavily modeled on Escobar. •
Street Fighter (1994), an adoption of the video game franchise whose main villain,
M. Bison, has a drug kingpin/terrorist background similar to Escobar. •
Con Air (1997) featured a major antagonist named Francisco Cindino, whose actor, Jesse Borrego, studied Escobar for the role. •
Face/Off (1997), another Nicolas Cage film, where the main antagonist, Castor Troy, is also a drug kingpin-terrorist based on Escobar.
Television • In 2005, Court TV (now
TruTV) crime documentary series
Mugshots released an episode on Escobar titled "Pablo Escobar – Hunting The Druglord". • In the 2007
HBO television series,
Entourage, actor
Vincent Chase (played by
Adrian Grenier) is cast as Escobar in a fictional film entitled
Medellín. • One of
ESPN's
30 for 30 series films,
The Two Escobars (2010), by directors
Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, looks back at Colombia's World Cup run in 1994 and the relationship between sports and the country's criminal gangs — notably the Medellín narcotics cartel run by Escobar. The other Escobar in the film title refers to former
Colombian defender
Andrés Escobar (no relation to Pablo), who was shot and killed one month after conceding an own goal that contributed to the elimination of the Colombian national team from the
1994 FIFA World Cup. •
Caracol TV produced a
television series,
El cartel (
The Cartel), which began airing on 4 June 2008 where Escobar is portrayed by an unknown model when he is shot down by Cartel del Sur's hitmen. • Also Caracol TV produced a TV Series,
Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal (Pablo Escobar, The Boss of Evil), which began airing on 28 May 2012, and stars Andrés Parra as Pablo Escobar. It is based on Alonso Salazar's book
La parábola de Pablo. Parra reprises his role in TV series
Football Dreams, A World of Passion and in the first season of
El Señor de los Cielos. Parra has declared not to play the character again so as not to
typecast himself. •
RTI Producciones produced a TV Series for
RCN Televisión,
Tres Caínes, was released on 4 March 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by the Colombian actor Juan Pablo Franco (who portrayed general Muriel Peraza in
Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) in the first phase of the series. Franco reprises his role in
Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ. • Also in 2013,
Fox Telecolombia produced for RCN Televisión a TV Series,
Alias El Mexicano, released on 5 November 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by an unknown actor in a minor role. • A
Netflix original television series depicting the story of Escobar, titled
Narcos, was released on 28 August 2015, starring Brazilian actor
Wagner Moura as Pablo. Season two premiered on the streaming service on 2 September 2016. • In 2016,
Teleset and
Sony Pictures Television produced for RCN Televisión the TV Series
En la boca del lobo, was released on 16 August 2016, which Escobar is portrayed by
Fabio Restrepo (who portrayed Javier Ortiz in
Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) as the character of Flavio Escolar. •
National Geographic in 2016 broadcast a biography series
Facing that included an episode featuring Escobar. • On 24 January 2018, Netflix released the 68-minute-long documentary
Countdown to Death: Pablo Escobar directed by Santiago Diaz and Pablo Martin Farina. •
Killing Escobar was a documentary televised in the UK in 2021. It concerned a failed attempt by mercenaries, contracted by the Cali Cartel and led by
Peter McAleese, to assassinate Escobar in 1989. • Fox Telecolombia produced in 2019 a TV Series,
El General Naranjo, which aired on 24 May 2019, which Escobar is portrayed by the Colombian actor Federico Rivera. • In 2022,
National Geographic produced a documentary,
Pablo Escobar: Man vs. Myth. The documentary highlighted the many crimes committed by and for Escobar.
Music • The 2013 song "Pablo" by American rapper
E-40 serves as an ode to the legacy of Pablo Escobar. • The 2016 album
The Life of Pablo by American rapper
Kanye West was named after the three Pablos who inspired and represented some part of the album, with one of them being Pablo Escobar. • Dubdogz's "Pablo Escobar" (feat. Charlott Boss), released in 2020, has garnered more than 5.6 million views for its official music video. • The 2018 hit single
Narcos by the Atlanta-based rap group
Migos from their album
Culture II makes references to Pablo Escobar as well as the Medellin Cartel, and the
Netflix series Narcos. • The 2025 song "
Dracula" by Australian psychedelic musical project
Tame Impala mentions Pablo Escobar, as it refers the song's connection to Escobar's hiding in the daylight. == References ==