Jennifer Lopez to Play Drug Lord Griselda Blanco in HBO TV Movie

(CONFIDENTIAL) The from playing a corrupt cop with the NYPD and FBI informant for the anti-corruption task force on the NBC’s Shades of Blue, Jennifer Lopez will take on the role of Griselda Blanco, an HBO movie that focuses on the notorious drug lord known as “The Cocaine Godmother”.

Griselda Blanco, who reigned terror on Miami in the early 1980s, and killed in Medellin, Colombia, in 2012 was snown as La Madrina, the Cocaine Godmother, “the Black Widow” (for allegedly killing her first two husbands) and the female Tony Montana, thanks to the popular 2006 HBO documentary Cocaine Cowboys. Hers is essentially the true story of Scarface and Miami Vice,

The film, which is in development, will star Lopez, who will executive produce via her Nuyorican Productions banner alongside company topper Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and the singer-actress’s manager, Benny Medina, as well as LBI Entertainment’s Julie and Rick Yorn. Alex Pettyfer will co-executive produce alongside Nuyorican’s Priscilla Porianda and LBI’s Patrick Walmsley; the actor is attached only as a co-executive producer and it’s unclear if Pettyfer will have any onscreen role in the movie.

“I’ve been fascinated by the life of this corrupt and complicated woman for many years,” Lopez said Wednesday in a statement. “The idea of teaming with HBO felt like the perfect fit for finally bringing Griselda’s story to life.”

Lopez continues on season two of Shades of Blue, which she also exec produces. The singer-actress has been making a major TV push of late, with Nuyorican also behind Freeform’s critical darling The Fosters. For HBO, the movie marks the premium cable network’s latest star-driven take following its Emmy-nominated Anita Hill entry Confirmation with Kerry Washington and Bryan Cranston’s All the Way.

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Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known as J. Lo, is an American singer, actress, dancer, fashion designer, author, and producer. Lopez gained her first regular high-profile job as a Fly Girl dancer on In Living Color in 1991, where she remained a regular until she decided to pursue an acting career in 1993. She received her first leading role in the Selena biopic of the same name in 1997.

Lopez became the first Latina actress to earn over US$1 million for a role the following year, with the film Out of Sight. She ventured into the music industry in 1999, with her debut studio album, On the 6.