Josh Hutcherson clearly doesn't watch Entourage. The young actor could be sniffing from the poisoned chalice that is Pablo Escobar, going where Vincent Chase wished he hadn't and signing up for Paradise Lost, a production that will see Benicio Del Toro playing the notorious drug baron.
Admittedly, the Entourage version, 'Medellin', was a misguided (and, yes, entirely fictional) attempt to mythologise the cocainiac Columbian with a bloated arthouse treatment. By contrast, Paradise Lost will offer a more oblique intro to the man. If cast, Hutcherson will play a young Irish surfer who discovers that his girlfriend's uncle is - gulp - an internationally notorious drugs trafficker. It's Meet The Parents with AK-47s.
Instead of Billy Walsh, this take on Escobar will offer a directorial debut to Andrea di Stefano. You can see him playing Life Of Pi's priest from this week. Principle photography on **Paradise Lost **should kick off in Panama in March, 2013.
Don't confuse this effort with the now-in-turnaround **Paradise Lost that was due to see Bradley Cooper tackle Lucifer himself, or the epic John Milton poem on which it's based, in which good and evil do battle like that bit at the beginning of The Fellowship Of The Ring.