Running Scared
Death threats from Mexican gangs have reportedly persuaded the makers of Queen of the South, an adaptation of a popular pulp novel about murder and revenge among Latino mafiosos, to not only abandon shooting in Mexico but shut down altogether.
Queen of the South costars Josh Hartnett, Eva Mendes, Ben Kingsley.
The initial graph in Guy Adams‘ 3.29 story Independent story reports that the death threats led director Jonathan Jakubowicz and his producers to abandon plans to shoot in the Mexican coastal region of Sinaloa.
But a followup graph says “the plug has now been pulled on the project. Adams then posts a statement from Jakubowicz, to wit: “I’ve worked really hard to make this beautiful movie, but the safety of my family and my team comes first. Making this movie [would have] put us all at risk, not only in Mexico but in the U.S.”
Queen of the South costars/would have costarred Eva Mendes, Josh Hartnett and Ben Kingsley.
“Jakubowicz and his family apparently received threats while at home in Los Angeles,” the story says. “The shaken filmmaker this week warned colleagues to think twice before attempting to take on similar projects. “I beg those involved to be responsible and mindful of the dangerous territory the subject matter inevitably gets them into,” he said.
Adams writes that “the news will heighten fears that Hollywood production, which has become a growing contributor to the Mexican economy, may disappear from the country, amid the surge in violence which has killed nearly 7,000 people in the past year.
“Many other Hollywood producers, who may be tempted to shoot south of the border because of lower production costs and tax incentives, are also now starting to think twice. Security has been a growing problem since 2005, when Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas‘s Bordertown was forced to move production to New Mexico after its crew was followed and had their hotel rooms ransacked.
Queen of the South might (I say “might”) have been a good thing for Mendes — the part of Teresa Mendoza would basically be that of a female Tony Montana.
Publisher’s Weekly describes Arturo Perez-Reverte‘s Queen of the South novel as follows: “The gritty world of drug trafficking in Mexico, southern Spain and Morocco, offering a frightening, fascinating look at the international business of transporting cocaine and hashish as well as a portrait of a smart, fast, daring and lucky woman, Teresa Mendoza.
“As the novel opens, Teresa’s phone rings. She doesn’t have to answer it: the phone is a special one given to her by her boyfriend, drug runner and expert Cessna pilot G√ºero D√°vila. He has warned her that if a call ever came, it meant he was dead, and that she had to run for her own life. On the lam, Teresa leaves Mexico for Morocco, where she keeps a low profile transporting drug shipments with her new lover.
“But after a terrible accident and a brief stint in prison, Teresa’s on her own again. She manages to find her way, but Teresa is no mere survivor: gaining knowledge in every endeavor she becomes involved in and using her own head for numbers and brilliant intuition, she eventually winds up heading one of the biggest drug traffic rings in the Mediterranean.
“Spanning 12 years and introducing a host of intriguing, scary characters, from Teresa’s drug-addicted prison comrade to her former assassin turned bodyguard, the novel tells the gripping tale of ‘a woman thriving in a world of dangerous men.’”
Can’t they film somewhere else, like in Puerto Rico or Costa Rica?
Jesus, that sinopsis reads like a Gen X Jackie Collins novel. Maybe it was just as well that the movie didn’t get made at all.
SYNOPSIS, rather.
Who cares? The real question is does it have more ass raping than AMERICAN ME, the greatest ass raping epic of all time.
They didn’t want Edward James OLMOS to make a movie about them, what makes JOHNNY JAKUBOWICZ think he could get away with it?
True dat, MM.
What characters were Hartnett and Kingsley going to play? Just wondering since neither of them are, you know, HISPANIC!
Well, violence has escalated to unprecedented levels in the past years al over the country (i’m from mexico), and it’s been both frightening and weird how all of us have just learned to live with it and incorporated that into our lives. You don’t really have a choice.
The fact these guys had to shut down all together and won’t be able to tdo this in Puerto Rico or whatever just goes to show how powerful the cartels and “gangs” really are. I believe they are basically running the show in Latin America and have waay more complex networking all over the world than what the average joe thinks. It is scary.
Great, so I guess this means we’ll just get more hand-holding, P.C. tripe like Crash and Crossing Over.
Can’t they film somewhere else, like in Puerto Rico or Costa Rica?
If James Franco can play Ginsberg, then Kingsley can play a Mexican.
To Josh Massey, who probably has not seen Crossing Over – how are the following elements of Crossing Over P.C.?
- Ray Liotta motel room fucking Alice Eve in almost every scene, including a reference to anal sex at one point. She’s in it for a green card.
- An ICE agent deciding to let a Korean gangmember walk away from a liquor store robbery (during which, the store owner has been executed in cold blood and the other gangmembers have been killed).
- A murder investigation that leads to an honor killing – which we see in flashback, including full frontal nudity and two people getting violently capped.
- A young Mexican woman disappears while crossing the border and we find out she’s been brutally murdered and raped from her appearance.
- A young atheist Jewish musician trying to pass himself off as an Orthodox Jew in an immigration interview – only to have his ass saved by a real Orthodox rabbi (who knows he’s scamming).
- A Bangladeshi muslim girl who reads a pro-911 hijackers essay in front of her class, which leads to her deportation (with no reprieve) and permanent separation from her family.
How are any of those stories or the graphic nature in which they’re depicted P.C. – as in POLITICALLY CORRECT. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, dude. Love it or hate it (as most seem to do), Crossing Over is so far from being politically correct, I want to laugh when you make a dumbass comment like that. The only storyline that qualifies as being “P.C.” is the little Nigerian girl being adopted by Judd’s character. There, I give you that one.
I’m just thrilled to be spared a Josh Hartnett movie.
And Hillary admits our Drug War policies are failures, but thinks sending in more cops will fix the problem.
They couldn’t have shut down 30 DAYS OF NIGHT or LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN?
Was this a pay or play deal? Did they all get paid anyway?
Does anyone stick a knife up some guy’s asshole?
That is truly a shame. Queen of the South is one of the best books that I have read in the last decade – totally thrilling and unexpected and full of complicated, love em while you hate em characters. I don’t think I ever really saw Eva Mendes as Teresa, and I have no doubt that Josh Hartnett’s presence would have spelled doom for the film anyway, but this was a great property that I was really excited to see come to film. Too bad how the timing’s worked out. Especially since the film would actually be MORE relevant now that the Mexican drug cartel situation has exploded.
Oh well.
For those who don’t know, the writer of the book is well-known for his artsy-fartsy and randomly supernatural literary thrillers – The Flanders Panel, and one that they made into the film The Ninth Gate which had to do with a secret Dumas society. You get the picture. Queen of the South was a total departure and could be devoured as quickly as a Jaackie Collins novel but with the same kind of intelligence of a J.G. Ballard…
Lawnorder: They’re politically correct in the sense that, in most of those examples where there is a clear “villain,” it’s a white person taking advantage of poor minorities.
The presence of violence, nudity or controversial subjects does not eliminate political correctness.
Josh, now I’m positive you haven’t seen Crossing Over. The only real clear “white” villain in the film is Ray Liotta and he is involved in a power play with a white Aussie chick played by Alice Eve (who is no innocent herself). There is probably only one scene in the film where a “white” person of authority holds it over a minority and that’s when Harrison Ford arrests Alice Braga in the beginning (and the film makes it clear he was about to give her a pass until another agent interferes). Otherwise, it’s minority or immigrant doing to each other. For example, the Summer Bishil character is detained and interrogated by an FBI agent who looks Hispanic or middle eastern. Cliff Curits (playing an Iranian American) gives a pass to a Korean teenager. Jim Sturgess (white) is interviewed for his immigration papers by a black officer and helped out by an Israeli rabbi. Again, there isn’t any political correctness going on here. The film evenly distributes minorities and Americans doing their jobs. Not sure what you’re saying. Liking a film or not liking a film and calling it P.C. are two different things.
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