The creative team behind “Griselda” wasn’t bothered by a lawsuit filed against them by the family of the Netflix limited series’ inspiration.
Star Sofía Vergara, who impresses in her dramatic debut as the Colombian drug queenpin Griselda Blanco, and Netflix were hit with a lawsuit from the Blanco estate last week seeking to block the release of the show with allegations of unauthorized use of the family’s image and likeness.
That didn’t stop the six-episode series from premiering as scheduled Thursday, as cocreator Eric Newman noted lawsuits come with the territory of portraying real-life crime figures.
“I dealt with this from multiple angles with the Escobar family… it’s fairly standard in these situations,” Newman, who served as an executive producer on “Narcos” and “Narcos: Mexico,” told TheWrap ahead of the “Griselda” premiere. “I like to think that you’re nobody until somebody sues you.”
He added that the lawsuit wouldn’t hinder the cast and crew’s celebration of the show’s release this week. “Griselda” follows the cartel leader’s infamous rise through the drug trafficking ranks in 1980s Miami. Vergara serves as an executive producer on the series, and brought the project to Newman, director Andrés Baiz and cocreators Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard and Ingrid Escajeda.
“I’m looking forward to the world seeing it. Sofía is going to blow people away in the show,” Newman said.
Blanco’s estate, represented by her son Michael, allege that details surrounding their image and likeness were used for the series without permission or compensation. The suit alleged that Michael had interviews with individuals seeking to develop his mother’s story into a potential series or book, beginning in 2009 up until 2022. The individuals told him they had started shopping the project around in 2016. When Netflix became interested in the project, the lawsuit states that the streamer would not incorporate any of the information from Michael’s interviews into the adaptation. Now the suit claims it was included anyway.
A Colombia native, Blanco was arrested in 1985 for conspiring to manufacture, import and distribute cocaine to the U.S. She was found guilty in a federal trial and served time in prison until 2004. She was assassinated in Medellín, Colombia, in 2012.
“Griselda” is now streaming on Netflix.
