Blanco was a trafficker, an unscrupulous assassin, a mother an her cocaine empire is now the subject of a new Netflix drama series with Sofia Vergara jumping from comedy to drama, shocking the world with this real-life story, one of violence, horror and tragedy. From the creators of ‘Narcos’, this new show has all the elements to engage audiences all over the world again.

Sofia Vergara,  plays not only the star lead role of ‘Griselda’ in the new series from Netflix, but is also an Executive Producer alongside with the creator of ‘Narcos’, Eric Newman. Directed by the Colombian Andres Baiz, ‘Griselda’ is the most compelling work of Vergara in her career, showing her chops as a dramatic actress. With Sofia we talked about her portrait of Blanco, a Colombian like her and probably the character that takes her next year to conquer the empire of awards.

Q: Everybody was really interested in how you first heard about Griselda Blanco and, essentially, what was your discovery of her and realizing that you wanted to collaborate on making this series together.

A: Well, the first thing that interested me about her, about this whole thing, was that I had never even heard of her, and I grew up in Colombia during that era. The era where narcotic traffic was booming, where every single cartel guy was a household name. We would, you know, know what they were doing. The United States was looking for them. So, it was very interesting to me that there was a woman that was able to get to that level with these men, but we didn't know who she was. I didn't know, my family didn't know. So that, for me, was like a big, big, big interest. She’s known for being the Black Widow because she killed her husband. So, I knew later in my life as far as knowing little things, little anecdotes about her life. But it wasn't until we started doing the research for this show that I found her compelling, a very complex character. Anti-heroes are always very interesting in that sense because you can say a lot about human nature. 

Q: Sofia, which sources help you to research Griselda’s rise to power?

A: By design, and Griselda made it this way, you know, she wasn't like the other traffickers who wanted credit, who wanted to be out in front, who filmed themselves. Escobar ran for political office. Griselda knew enough that being famous would be bad for her, particularly if you consider that. Whereas, most of the other traffickers were based in Colombia or Mexico where extradition was always a difficult feat to pull off. Griselda was in Miami. She was in the United States. And so, she really stayed under the radar. So, it wasn't easy. You know, obviously there are, you know, many anecdotes that we had heard, some of which felt untrue because they were so absurd. And others, despite being absurd, were true.

Q: When did you decide to play Griselda?

A:  Oh well, since the moment I heard of her, the first time in the Cocaine Cowboys documentary, it was like, is this true? But I forgot about it until I saw an article on a plane in a magazine that was talking a little bit more about her. And since then, you know, I started asking every narco I knew if it was true that they had heard of her [laugh]. I started, like, asking everybody. And that's when I realized, yes, this woman existed. And then, there is actually a public record of most of the things that she did because she actually went to jail for 22 years in the United States. So, it's there. You just have to look for it. And it was amazing to find out that she was, you know, a real thing. And actually, she was alive when I started thinking about the project, and that was a little bit hard for me. It took me so long because I kind of, like, let it go a bit 'because I thought I didn't want it to really glorify. And there was, like, to me, there was still not, like, an ending to this story because she was out. She was released from jail. And it was until 2012 when she died that I picked up, again, the project.

Q: Why did you personally think that Griselda Blanco was able to find the level of brutality within herself to become successful in an environment as savage as the drug trade?

A: I mean, it was very complicated because there were many things. Like, I could relate to her very easily because I am a Colombian woman. I was a single mother. I was an immigrant. I raised my son alone. I've been working since I was, you know, very, very young. So, there were a lot of things. And just being a woman. And that was one of the things that made me think about her, that I could play her because of all of these things and because I grew up in Colombia during the narco traffic. My brother was part of this business, unfortunately, at some point and he was killed in Colombia. So, I kind of knew what it felt. I knew what the business was. I knew how horrible the families, you know, get destroyed. The country suffers, the people around it. It's not just the person who is, you know, doing the illegal thing. You know, it spreads a lot, the pain and the horrific situations. So, as an actress, I just, you know, tried to think why would a mother do these kinds of things. Because that's what made me so interested in her, that it was not, you know, men trying to get power and money. It was a mother. Why would a mother of four kids be like that? And also, at the end, I really had a lot of help from Andy. Andy, the director, and I met a lot, you know, before starting the show when we already had the scripts. So that was, kind of, super helpful because there were a lot of things that I wasn't sure about. And also, you know, to me, the director is the one that is telling the story. I wanted to make sure that I understood his story. And we both created, like, a bond that helped us on set. You know, give each other what we want.

Q: What did you learn about Griselda Blanco that impressed you the most during this project?

A: That she was able to become as brutal as these men. And, being a mom raising kids, you know, usually you think a woman, you know, can't get to those levels of hate and horror. I mean, a woman more of someone who wants to protect and survive and help. And I think it was, you know, with time and with every situation that kept happening to her, it just got worse and worse in her head and in her heart. She started losing all her values and, really, all the good intentions that I want to believe that she really had at the beginning.

Q: There's different sorts of transformations. It's not only the physical transformation and the

trial-and-error search for looking up the appropriate look.

A: That it was very hard to make me look ugly. Yeah, she was a good-looking woman when she was young. I have to confess that I destroyed my back. One day, I got out of bed, it was the only day that I didn't go to work. And I couldn't get up. So I had to have, like, an injection in my back.

I couldn't work that day (laugh) The guy said, he's like, “I have to inject you”. No, because I literally couldn't move. So I got injected, and it went away. And, but the doctor said, I mean, at 50, you can't be walking in an unnatural position because things are going to happen. So apparently, what I did is kind of, like a disc got out of place. And so now I have to take care of it I guess for the rest of my life. But it was worth it. It was worth it. It was a small price to pay for him, yeah. (laugh)

Q: Was it difficult to give away your beauty for a character?

A: I was trying to look, like, real. I wanted to look like someone that, you know, like that really exists. Yes, I wanted to lose who I was and so that number remembers Sofia and Gloria Pritchett, but I also wanted to look real because, you know, it's six episodes. You don't want people the whole time to be thinking, "Why does she think with that nose she can," you know, "confuse us that she's a dramatic actress?"

Q: Was playing a dramatic and intense woman in a controversial story something that you were drawn to? 

A: Well, I thought, you know, for someone like me with my accent, it's not really like I can play any character. And of course it's always fun to find something that you can do and create. And I really thought, you know, I know this character. I know who I am, I know to be a woman, I know to be a mom. I've been in Colombia. I'm Colombian. You know, all these things that, I don't know, for some reason, I thought I can be her. I can understand her. So I think that's why I never, you know, even though it took me like 15 years to really actually, you know, release the series, I had, you know, been thinking for a long time that this was the right role for me. I never did it because I think, oh, I'm a comedic actress and I need to reinvent my career to show that I can do that. It wasn't really about that. I never even had that thought. I just thought, oh, I understand that character, I think I can do that one. So that was it.

Q:  Watching the evolution of Griselda, we witnessed not only her grasping of power,

but her desensitization from humanity as well. What insight about the consequences of power did you gain from inhabiting her?

A: Well, I already knew the consequence. You know, I mean I'm 51 years old. I've lived a lot. I know that the world can be a cruel place. I totally, you know, unfortunately understand that humans, we can be very cruel, very we can change from one moment to the other and become something that we never thought we could, you know, become. So I also think that was one of the reasons why I stopped at some point thinking that it was a good idea to do Griselda because Griselda was released from jail. She was free in Medellín. And I didn't think it was right no matter how interesting that character was for me. I didn't think it was right to keep going, developing a story where the bad guy, I mean, I wouldn't even say that she had a happy ending because she had, you know, a lot of a lot of problems. And she did 22 years. But she was alive. So I think when she was killed was the moment when I thought, okay, you know, this is the time maybe that I can 

Q: What would you say of working in Spanish and English in Griselda?

A: Working in a bilingual set, you know, where English and Spanish is spoken, it also gives me, you know, a sort of experience. Because ‘Griselda’ is an intimate, character-driven show, very different from and it has that bilingual element.

Q: Is Spanish important to you?

A: It is my first language and I think it is very important to keep the Spanish Language alive in America. I do read most of my books in Spanish

Q: Any author that you recommend?

A: I am from Colombia and a big fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, any of his books are worth reading in Spanish.

Q: Do you like Spain?

A: I love Spain. I love going to Spain.

Q: What was the most challenging part of embodying ‘Griselda’?  She showcased to herself and the world the strength of women at that time when sexism was pervasive in American culture.

A: Oh, that part was super-interesting. You know, to see a woman get to the top in this business. And at that time, it can be a completely different thing now than when she did it. It was crazy. It was, I mean, I think there is a part of her that I kind of, like, bothered me that I admired. You know, that I thought, you know, how can you do that when you're a mom? How can you do that when you're this, you know, she was a tiny woman that didn't look scary or anything. She wasn't ugly. It's like, how are you able to do all this, get to that level, make all the money, and I mean, and also get away with it for a long, long time? That was, to me, impressive. And, you know, not that I want to be that, but that drive. I mean, she went for the wrong thing, but I feel like if Griselda would have taken all of that that she was and send it in another direction, she could've been, you know, the president of Colombia if she wanted. So that part of her, I always really, like, understood it.

Q:  We've seen stories about famous drug traffickers before, but what is it that makes ‘Griselda’ different to all of you?

A:  For me, it was very important that you realize that, I mean, this is not just about the Narco traffic business, how it works. We all know, we all have seen a million TV shows, movies. We've read books about how this business is. Everybody I think at some point, and actually, it's a genre that people really love. So, I always felt that it was so amazing how, you know, Andy and Eric and the writers, you know, thought about Griselda as a woman. You know, as a person. As a character. And we'd never seen that. We've never seen a woman that gets to that level, and, you know, achieves what she achieves. So that was, to me, fascinating.  It was not just going to be gun fights and killing and, you know, sending cocaine here and there. It was about the inside of this woman. How she went, you know, her journey.

By María Estévez

Correspondent writer