Having enjoyed plenty of success with Narcos, a crime drama series chronicling the rise and fall of the Colombian kingpin of cocaine, Pablo Escobar, Netflix has now switched its focus to “the female Pablo Escobar.” Featuring Sofia Vergara in the lead role, the streaming platform today released Griselda, a biographical drama about the ambitious Colombian drug lord, Griselda Blanco. However, the series has already managed to offend the family of the late cartel leader.
Read more: Griselda Season 1 Episode 6 Recap and Ending Explained (In Detail)
What Son of Cocaine Godmother Griselda Blanco Said About Sofia Vergara’s Transformation
For 11 years, Sofia Vergara portrayed Gloria Pritchett in the hit sitcom Modern Family. The fun-loving Colombian became one of the most adored characters on the show due to her feisty persona and charismatic appearance.
Now, Vergara has seemingly taken a 180 turn to undergo an ‘ugly’ transformation to tell the story of Griselda Blanco, who’s considered among the first Colombian women to traffic cocaine to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s.
However, the only surviving son of Blanco, Michael Corleone, has hit out at the show for portraying his mother as “ugly”. He told the Daily Mail:
“My mother was a beautiful woman, and it’s crazy that a lot of people say, ‘No, you’ve got to look more like a drug addict’… The fact that they called her ‘ugly,’ that really offends me. People see the mug shots and just go from that, but when you read my book, you’ll see that my mother was called the porcelain doll in her youth.”
It’s understood, the 51-year-old had to undergo two hours’ worth of prosthetics to ‘mimic’ the look of the leader of one of the most profitable cartels in history.
Clearly, that wasn’t enough to impress Michael, who stressed that if his mother was alive, she wouldn’t have gotten away with it. Vergara also serves as an executive producer of the series.
Griselda Gave Sofia Vergara a Golden Opportunity to Shine in a Dramatic Role
Apart from Blanco’s appearance, Vergara also faced the challenge of playing a rare dramatic role, as her best work in Hollywood so far has come in ABC’s long-running sitcom.
The Colombian actress’ accent also played a big part in making her a fan-favorite character in Modern Family, but at the same time, she admitted it has stopped her from getting different kinds of roles.
“I’m always looking for characters because there’s not much that I can play with this stupid accent,” Vergara told the Los Angeles Times. “I can’t play a scientist or be in ‘Schindler’s List.’ My acting jobs are kind of limited.”
Accordingly, the chance to convey Blanco’s story provided Vergara with a perfect stage to play a dramatic character and showcase her true acting potential. To prepare for the role of the savvy drug lord, she hired acting coach Nancy Banks, who has worked with the likes of Margot Robbie and Jennifer Aniston.
