Netflix’s highly anticipated new drama starring Sofía Vergara lands today, with the Modern Family star set to stun viewers with her gritty turn as Griselda ‘Cocaine Godmother’ Blanco.
Vergara, 51, is best known for her comedic turn as Gloria in ABC sitcom Modern Family, which came to an end in 2020 after running for more than 10 years.
But her latest role marks a huge departure from the hilarious mum-of-two, having been transformed into a real-life female Colombian drug lord for Netflix’s Griselda.
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The six-part series is inspired by the life of ‘savvy and ambitious Griselda Blanco’, the woman who created one of the most profitable cartels in history.
"In 1970s-80s Miami, Blanco’s lethal blend of unsuspected savagery and charm helped her expertly navigate between business and family, leading her to become widely known as 'the Godmother’,” Netflix says.
Check out the trailer:
Alongside Vergara in the title role, the all-Latin cast also features the likes of Alberto Guerra as Dario, Vanessa Ferlito as Maria Gutierrez, Martín Rodríguez as Rivi Ayala, Alberto Ammann as Alberto Bravo and Gabriel Sloyer as Diaz.
While our lead star had a new challenge with Blanco, creator Eric Newman told Netflix fan site Tudum that he wasn’t surprised she could pull it off.
“She’s a force of nature and there is no doubt in my mind that whatever she sets her mind to, she can accomplish,” he explained.
“She was perfect for the role - not only because she, like Griselda, is a single mother who came to America from Colombia with nothing and built an empire - but because it was unexpected of her to do [so].
“Sofía has been thought of one way - a beautiful and brilliant comedic actress - and she is so much more than that.”
Of course, that’s not to say the team had a big transformation on their hands, with Vergara saying in a plan that they wanted ‘Sofia to disappear’, and for ‘Gloria Pritchett from Modern Family to disappear’, even if they knew they didn’t want her to look exactly like Blanco.
"I didn’t want people to think ‘oh, that's Gloria with a fake nose’,” she said.
“That was my main worry. And it took us a lot of tests to see different wigs, different noses, different eyebrows."
Vergara added: "I was nervous about it because I sometimes watch movies and it distracts me a lot to see [prosthetics], so I wanted her to look human and I wanted to be able to act with all those things that I had on."
Watch Griselda on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, TV And Film, Celebrity, Sofia Vergara
Jess Hardiman