To date, Narcos still remains one of the best TV shows ever made by Netflix. The series which revolved around the Colombian drug trade and focussed on notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, as well as the Cali Cartel, was a huge hit. The spinoff Narcos: Mexico focussing on Mexican drug lords was also made and it has received great reviews too.
However, thanks to Escobar's notoriety, the original show will always be the more popular one. Aside from the captivating plot of the original series, there are a number of behind-the-scenes secrets that only true fans happen to be aware of. Here are some of them.
Wagner Moura Wore A Fake Stomach To Accurately Portray Escobar's Potbelly
Not only did the Brazilian actor gain 40 lbs in order to play the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, but he also had to wear a fake stomach. Apparently, Escobar was a heavy eater who would dispatch any visible food item to his stomach and as a result, he ended up developing a really huge belly later in his life.
Despite gaining all that weight, Moura still couldn't manage to reach the size of the real Escobar's abdomen, so he wore a fake stomach. Interestingly, while appearing briefly in the spinoff series Narcos: Mexico, Moura was back to his slim self. The potbelly was lacking too. Luckily for the showrunners, fans never complained about this.
Narcos Was Supposed To Be A Full-Length Feature Film
According to producer Eric Newman, Narcos was supposed to be a big-budget feature film. However, the writing team dug up too much information about the characters and this created a challenge. Since most character-development angles were good, the team realized that the content couldn't fit into a single movie.
As a result. they opted to make it into a series. This was the right choice ultimately. You can't help but wonder how many iconic scenes would have been cut if they had decided to make a movie. Even with Scorsese's kind of running times, it simply wouldn't have been enough.
Pablo's Death Was Filmed On The Exact Rooftop Where He Was Shot
On December 2nd, 1993, Pablo Escobar was killed during a shootout with the Colombian police and DEA agents in the middle-class neighborhood of Los Olivos, Medellin. The drug kingpin was shot dead as he tried to escape a building with his bodyguard Álvaro de Jesús Agudelo aka El Limon via a rooftop.
While filming Narcos, the producers were lucky enough to find that the exact rooftop where Escobar was shot was still intact. So, they went ahead and filmed his death there. However, Escobar's brothers have always insisted that he shot himself since he always told them that he'd do that if he was cornered.
Director Jose Padilha Was Inspired By Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese has influenced many directors and Jose Padilha is one of the people who look up to him. The violence and stylish themes of Scorsese's 1990 classic film Goodfellas influenced Padilha heavily while he was directing Narcos.
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Padilha mentioned that he wanted to make the show as iconic as possible and that meant taking notes from one of the best gangster films ever made. It's hard to notice any similarities but we'll take his word.
The Words Of The Iconic Theme Are Imagined As Those Of Escobar's Mom
Not many TV shows can boast of having a theme song that is as sweet as that of Narcos. The song is called "Tuyo" (Yours). It was composed by Brazilian singer Rodrigo Amante, best known as the former lead singer of the Rio De Janeiro band Los Hermanos.
The lyrics are quite interesting too. They sound like those of a love song. There are lines like "You’re the air that I breathe." So, how is this relevant to the drug trade? According to Amante, he imagined himself as Escobar's mother. The song is thus Escobar's mom telling him how much she loves him.
Wagner Moura Had Already Had 34 Roles Before Narcos
"Who is this great actor?" Well, that was the question most of us asked ourselves after watching Wagner Moura do a better Escobar than the real Escobar. The Netflix series introduced him to worldwide audiences but back home in Brazil, he was already a huge star.
Before landing the role of Escobar, Moura had starred in 27 films and 7 TV shows. The experience was clearly not lacking. His best role was in Elite Squad, which was also directed by Jose Padilha. Now, here is an example of good working relationships.
Netflix Didn't Make it Alone
The good people at Netflix might take all the credit but they actually made the show through a partnership with the American branch of French studio Gaumont International Television. Later on, Univision was also given distribution rights for the films.
Netflix and Univision later partnered in making another similar Spanish show called El Chapo. Interestingly, the Mexican drug lord El Chapo is also in the spinoff Narcos: Mexico as a ing character who is a drug trafficker on the rise. It would be interesting to see whether they'll eventually make him the central figure of the spinoff too.
The Production Design Was Inspired By Escobar's Own Videos
Narcos has often been praised for its authentic feel and look. How did they get it so right? Well, Escobar's videotapes helped a lot. While he was still untouchable, the drug kingpin enjoyed documenting his own life. He'd probably be a huge Instagram star if he existed in the current era.
Escobar normally filmed himself having fun in his ranch. So. it was easy for the producers to know exactly the kind of costumes the people wore as well as come up with an accurate depiction of the scenery. For major events including the bombing of a enger plane, news clips were used as the source material.
Wagner Moura Wants Drugs To Be Legalized
That's right. The actor who played Escobar feels that the war on drugs causes more deaths than drug use itself. And it is his opinion that the trade will be less violent if it becomes legal. Wisdom? Maybe. You have to be wise to become 100% fluent in Spanish in just six months without ever having spoken the language before. Wagner Moura did that in preparation for his role.
Moura made his thoughts about drugs clear shortly after the release of Narcos to The Daily Beast: "I’m not saying addiction isn’t a big problem. I really think it is. But it should be treated as a health problem, not as a police or military problem. I always thought drugs should be legalized and now, just by doing Narcos, it reinforced that.”
Real Life DEA Agent Murphy And Agent Pena Make Appearances
In the finale of the second season, two old men are seen clinking glasses after watching the news about Escobar's death. These men are actually the real-life DEA agents who were instrumental in taking Escobar down. Agent Pena who was portrayed in Narcos by The Mandalorian actor Pedro Pascalis one of the men in that scene. And so is Agent Murphy who was played by Boyd Holbrook
Plenty of people never noticed this because they aren't aware of how the real agents look like, let alone the fact that they are very much alive. Kudos to them for surviving such a brutal era. Kudos to them for pulling a Stan Lee on us too.