Hollywood-Fueled Drug Wars Hit Close To Home
Everyone’s a critic. Queen of the South, a movie about the world of Mexico’s drug-running gangsters, has been dropped over fears of retribution by criminals who object to their cinematic portrayal
Josh Hartnett, Eva Mendes, and Ben Kingsley had been attached to the project. Writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz told Variety:
We wanted to shoot in the city of Culiacan in Sinaloa, northern Mexico, the epicenter of the drug wars, but it just wasn’t possible. The world should pray for peace in Mexico.
Ah yes, prayer, that familiar habit of Hollywood. Here’s another idea: Why doesn’t Tinseltown try moderating its habit of snorting the entirety of Peru up its nose? Mexican gangsters would have no business smuggling drugs across the border if the demand weren’t there. Mendes did a stint in rehab last year, which we claimed was research for her role as a Spanish drug lord in Queen of the South. Now that the movie’s cancelled, what’s her excuse?
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Yes, Owen, thank god no one anywhere else in the country does drugs!!!
SaraRueful
If drugs were legal, there would be no Mexican drug cartels.
@SaraRueful: I'm trying to think of a war or conflict that couldn't be linked to the supply or demand of some commodity. Drugs, oil, diamonds, water rights, land, slaves. While, I'm sure that Hollywood does its fair share of coke, I think that it has to be a statistically insignificant percentage of U.S. demand. Let's just hope that the Mexicans don't get into the pill trade.
If there were no mexican drug cartels, what would 2.5 million californians do for work? And how would the rest of us celebrate 4:20pm and 10am and the rest of life's happy moments?
I'd hardly remember that movie in a few days anyways unless it was as good as Traffic.
Remind me again how "Traffic" got made?
SW-2
Aside from the fact that none of them are clean, personal use-wise, I wonder if the big stars are under some kind of Omerta to keep from actually participating in a Don't Do Drugs, Kids campaign with a "Save Mexico" theme. If one of them does step up, maybe with a typical redemption story speech, but salting it with a "don't support terrorists!" message, perhaps they could expect a personal visit in a dark alley from one of the Arellano-Felix boys.
SW-2
@SaraRueful: Why, here in New York we gather at parties and the like to discuss literature and world events over cups of sensibly non-stimulating decaf tea. What MUST it be like to be in a city where drugs are commonplace and viewed as a social lubricant?
Oy Veh (Informality Reigns)
Good rant,Owen.
PandoraSpocks
Hey! Prayer works!
I, for one, am praying away all of the world's evils as we speak!
Expect a brighter day tomorrow!
Hugs, kisses, peace, unicorns and lollipops!!
get the buttah
@SW-2: Am I just hungover, or does this message make no sense?
@NexusRanger: No, I think you caught me--I'm a little hungover, too. I think I was trying to say that we'll probably never hear from Hollywood again about drugs. I'll stop now.
SW-2
@metoometoo: Bingo
I thought Juarez was the epicenter? No?
Casting Josh Hartnett and Eva Mendes is what killed this. The Drug Cartels should sue for slander.
WindowSeat
@Oy Veh (Informality Reigns): The simple country folk here in Pennsylvania make a home remedy for daunting social occasions out of common household items like lithium batteries, acetone and cold medicines. Sometimes the Old Ways are best.
WindowSeat
Close your anchor tag, this isn't Jamaica.
@metoometoo: Oh lordy. Do you really believe that?
Almostbanned
@SW-2: Ugh, what an awful movie. It's odd that for all preachiness of that film, I have no idea what the message was that Soderbergh tried to convey. Maybe that things look different when you put a filter over the lens?
@SaraRueful: No no, not like they do out there. I've never seen so much blow in my life as I have on my last trip to LA. And I grew up in Manhattan.
Almostbanned
I'm hoping this is movie was canned because people are tired of looking at Josh Hartnett with that dumb expression on his face.
@[www.economist.com]
mattyhop
@Almostbanned: Okay, there are two ways to stop the violence in Mexico.
1. Legalize drugs
2. Everyone, ever, stops using drugs
Which option sounds more practical and realistic?
@jasonelias: I never watch movies that Josh Hartnett is in, because I honestly cannot stand looking at his stupid face.
@SW-2: "Traffic", the movie, was a remake of "Traffic", a BBC series. The original dealt with heroin traffic from Afghanistan to London.
scarcat
@No Day Like Friday: Nearly all of the leaders and most members above soldier in each cartel have roots in a small group of mountain families from Sinaloa. Even though they're called "Juarez" or "Tijuana" or "Gulf" cartels, they have huge mansions and base their operations in Culiacan and near Mazatlan.
@metoometoo: Yeah he really sets my teeth on edge.
@ChillbearLatrigue: the inquisition?
The Boulevard of Broken Queens
@metoometoo: exactly. plus think of the tax revenues the gov. could reap, by by deficit. Replace the drug war with free treatment for those who want it.
Guess filming in Texas or 'zona would be fraught with its own perils - splitting the take with union-wage labor.
SteveManiac
@metoometoo: exactly! I can't believe the author (of this post) expects everyone will stop doing drugs... give me a damn break. please do not go into public policy, owen.
jjb2000
Hey if Robert Downey Jr gets 200 chances, Hartnett gets at least 10 more.
I actually feel the need to comment AGAIN. Becuase, I was so intrigued by the title of this post, and so let down that GAWKER, and Owen and all the editors, instead of possibly taking an informed, open-minded (and, I'm sorry, but LIBERAL) view on drugs, decided instead to take the view of my mom and the nuns at my catholic school, which is: if only everyone stopped doing drugs there wouldn't be a problem. Should we also take away condoms, b/c that encourages pre-marital sex... I mean, I don't want to become trite, but I'm just really surprised, and very unimpressed. Are Gawker and Fox News in cahoots now? If I wanted some hackneyed opinion on the subject, well, I could just watch NBC (or again - and sorry, fam), or ask my Grammy what her opinion is. And let's also pray that nobody ever has an abortion again, either!
jjb2000