Ridley Scott To Direct Film Adaptation of El Chapo-Inspired Drug Thriller THE CARTEL

You've probably heard the news stories recently about El Chapo, the Sinoloa drug cartel leader who escaped from a Mexican prison on July 18th. Author Don Winslow sure as hell heard those stories, since he spent more than ten years researching El Chapo for his recently released book, The Cartel, which fictionalizes the drug lord's story. Now THR reports that Ridley Scott is attached to direct a film adaptation of the book after "intense interest" from studios.

Winslow and Avatar sequel writer Shane Salerno (who is, weirdly enough, also Winslow's book agent) will write the screenplay and produce. The Cartel has been earning ecstatic praise since its release, so hopefully this is a project Scott is able to actually carve out some time for instead of just attaching his name to direct and then bailing on it like he so often does. And let's also hope it's a hell of a lot better than The Counselor, which is what happened last time Scott tried to tackle material involving the drug trade. Here's the book's synopsis:

From the internationally best-selling author of the acclaimed novel The Power of the Dog comes The Cartel, a gripping, true-to-life, ripped-from-the-headlines epic story of power, corruption, revenge, and justice spanning the past decade of the Mexican-American drug wars.

It’s 2004. DEA agent Art Keller has been fighting the war on drugs for thirty years in a blood feud against Adán Barrera, the head of El Federación, the world’s most powerful cartel, and the man who brutally murdered Keller’s partner. Finally putting Barrera away cost Keller dearly—the woman he loves, the beliefs he cherishes, the life he wants to lead.

Then Barrera gets out, determined to rebuild the empire that Keller shattered. Unwilling to live in a world with Barrera in it, Keller goes on a ten-year odyssey to take him down. His obsession with justice—or is it revenge?—becomes a ruthless struggle that stretches from the cities, mountains, and deserts of Mexico to Washington’s corridors of power to the streets of Berlin and Barcelona.
Keller fights his personal battle against the devastated backdrop of Mexico’s drug war, a conflict of unprecedented scale and viciousness, as cartels vie for power and he comes to the final reckoning with Barrera—and himself—that he always knew must happen.

The Cartel is a story of revenge, honor, and sacrifice, as one man tries to face down the devil without losing his soul. It is the story of the war on drugs and the men—and women—who wage it.