"El Chapo" linked to cinema productions

Since his last escape from the maximum security prison of El Altiplano last year, two film projects focusing on the life of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, "El Chapo" have been announced.

Yesterday, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gómez, reported that one thing that factored in finding and arresting the drug trafficker was his interest of making a movie about his life.

Consecuently, two projects tackling that subject are under the spotlight.

The first is a Mexican series of five films which, according to its protagonist Irineo Alvarez, tackle the controversial subject. The first one is entitled "El Escape del Siglo" (The Escape of the Century", and it deals with Guzmán Loera's escape from the maximum security prison of El Altiplano.

The second film of the series, which are filmed back-to-back in order to ensure continuity and the participation of the same actors, deals surprisingly with his arrest, according to Alvarez.

The director is Axl Uriegas, who so far had only worked as an assistant director in the Mexican movies "Casi Divas" and "Tequila."

The producers of this particular series have resisted to come forward with their identities, despite the attempts of EL UNIVERSAL, and according to their publicist Georgina Cobos they do not want to do it for security and "because other productions have been threatened." She added that they have not been threatened in any way, but the producers still want to be on the safe side.

The second film project on the Chapo is Hollywood made. According to the July edition of Variety, director Ridley Scott and Fox had reached an agreement to take the book "El Cartel" (The Cartel) by Don Winslow, to the big screen.

The book does not focus on "El Chapo" directly, but on two friends who get separated when one goes to work to the DEA and another for the cartel.