“Griselda” star Sofía Vergara and director Andrés Baiz spoke to TheWrap about why they told Griselda Blanco’s story.
After “Narcos” and “Narcos: Mexico,” director Andrés Baiz was hesitant to return to the world of cartel crime dramas. At least until “Modern Family” star Sofía Vergara and her business partner Luis Balaguer approached Baiz and executive producer Eric Newman with the story of Griselda Blanco, the Cocaine Godmother.
“I’m going to be very honest here. Because I’m Colombian and had been working in ‘Narcos’ for seven years, I was a little bit over [the subject matter]. I wanted to do something different,” Baiz, who has also directed episodes of “The Sandman,” told TheWrap.
But when he was given the opportunity to guide Vergara through her prestige drama debut by directing and producing all six episodes of “Griselda,” Baiz changed his mind.
“It was less about the character and more about the opportunity to work with somebody and getting her to reinvent herself as an actor. That was what really drew me,” Baiz explained. “It was a challenge and it was risky. But I’m not going to do things that are I consider easy. Challenging stuff really is what matters.”
Vergara specifically wanted to work with the pair due to their previous work on “Narcos” and “Narcos: Mexico.”
“It was fascinating for me because I grew up in Colombia during that era and we all knew who they were. They were household names — Pablo Escobar and this and that,” Vergara told TheWrap. “And no one had ever heard of this woman.”
The first time Vergara heard the name Griselda Blanco was when she was watching a documentary.
