Loving Pablo

Loving Pablo, internationally known as Escobar, is a 2017 English-language Spanish biographical crime drama film directed by Fernando León de Aranoa, based on Virginia Vallejo's memoir Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar.^[4][5] It was screened out of competition in the 74th Venice International Film Festival and in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.^[6]

Loving Pablo
Film poster
Directed by	Fernando León de Aranoa
Screenplay by	Fernando León de Aranoa Michael Zimbalist
Based on	Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar by Virginia Vallejo[1]
Produced by	Dean Nichols Javier Bardem Miguel Menendez de Zubillaga Kalina Kottas Michael Zimbalist
Starring	Javier Bardem Penélope Cruz
Cinematography	Alex Catalan
Edited by	Nacho Ruiz Capillas
Music by	Federico Jusid
Distributed by	Star Cinema (Philippines)
Release dates	6 September 2017 (2017-09-06) (Venice) 9 March 2018 (2018-03-09) (Spain) 11 July 2018 (2018-07-11) (Philippines)
Running time	125 minutes
Countries	Spain, Philippines
Language	English
Budget	€14.6 million[2]
Box office	$17.5 million[3]

Plot

Between 1981 and 1987, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar had a romantic relationship with the journalist and the television presenter, Virginia Vallejo.

Cast

• Javier Bardem as Pablo Escobar
• Penélope Cruz as Virginia Vallejo
• Peter Sarsgaard as Shepard, based on Steve Murphy
• Julieth Restrepo as Maria Victoria Henao
• Óscar Jaenada as Santoro
• David Valencia as Santos
• David Ojalvo as FBI Agent
• Giselle Da Silva as Olguita Arranz

Reception

Box office

Loving Pablo grossed $22,017 in the United States and Canada, and $17,5 million in other territories,^[3] plus $60,312 with home video sales.^[7]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 31% based on 48 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 4.82/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Loving Pablo bungles its seemingly cinematic real-life story – and a pair of talented stars – in producing a lurid biopic that adds nothing to the Escobar subgenre."^[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[9]