It was announced at Cannes that EuropaCorp has picked up the biopic Escobar, to produce and finance. The film depicts the life of the drug lord Pablo Escobar. The biopic will be based on Virginia Vallejo’s Spanish-language memoir titled Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar about the rise of the Colombian drug lord. The movie will follow his journey to become one of the most powerful drug lords of all time. Fernando Leon de Aranoa will be directing the film as well as penning the screenplay. Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz have signed on to star in the film.

There has been no other casting news for the movie, which is set to start shooting later this year. EuropaCorp will be producing alongside Pinguin Films and Dean Nichols Productions with Dean Nichols, Christophe Lambert, and Bardem himself serving as producers. International sales of the film are to be started at Cannes. Check out the rest of our coverage on the Cannes Film Festival here.

Javier Bardem is now currently filming the next movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise titled Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – a franchise that Cruz is also a veteran of. He also recently finished filming The Last Face. Penelope Cruz is currently filming on two other movies, Grimbsy and Zoolander 2. Escobar has no set release date.