José Padilha Teams With Don Cheadle

One day I had no idea who José Padilha was and the next, the man’s name is all over the web. Aside from the fact that his award winning Elite Squad (trailer) is getting all sorts of positive attention and playing here and there (though no where near me), I recently discovered that the director already has a third film in the can and then there’s his involvement with the Think Tank shorts.

Now there’s news via Variety that Padilha has agreed to direct a long dormant drama titled Marching Powder. It sounds as though the film has been in the works for some time with Don Cheadle in line to star and produce but it looks like things have finally dropped into place. The film is based on a memoir by Thomas McFadden and Rusty Young and Cheadle is in line to play McFadden, a British drug trafficker who was arrested in Bolivia and jailed in La Paz’s San Pedro prison where he served as a tour guide during his his six-year stretch. A tour guide? Is this for real? It appears so.

Checking out the official page for the book, I was shocked to see children locked up and with a little more research, I found out that the prison is unlike any other in that it contains a society within its walls with entire families living alongside the inmates. This is unlike anything I’ve seen before and it certainly sounds like a fascinating story. I can’t wait to see where Padilha takes it.