Sofía Vergara first heard about Griselda Blanco — the murderous Colombian crime boss she plays in the Netflix miniseries “Griselda,” a role for which she is now Emmy-nominated — while watching the 2006 documentary “Cocaine Cowboys.” But she didn’t think much of the villain, known as the Black Widow. “I grew up in Colombia during the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s,” Vergara says on a call from her home in Los Angeles. “We all knew who was who, which drug dealer was doing what, from where. They were household names.”
But not so the Cocaine Godmother. Vergara thought that “she must have been a mule or the wife of a drug trafficker,” without ever believing that the woman had been “on the level of the big drug traffickers.”
Years later, reading about Blanco in a mid-flight magazine, Vergara had a clearer vision. “I realized that she had not been working in Colombia, but in Los Angeles and Miami,” she says. “She was there before Pablo Escobar, the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers or the Ochoa brothers, who were the big bosses.” [kingpins] who were known at the time.” Then he knew it was a role he could play.
Yes, Blanco was the furthest Vergara could go from the character of Gloria Pritchett, whom she played so successfully on “Modern Family.” But that wasn’t what initially attracted her. “I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to show them. ’ No! Because I love doing comedy, I love ‘Modern Family,’ I couldn’t be more grateful,” she insists. Vergara, who had never had any formal acting training at the time, simply needed a character she knew. And she knew Blanco.
“I am Colombian, I am a woman, I am an immigrant, I am a mother. There were many similarities and, of course, many, many different things. But there were many things that fascinated me about her,” she continues. “Maybe I don’t want to kill my husband, but I would understand why she wanted to do it.” [laughter].”
The only problem? Blanco, who had been released from federal prison in 2004 and deported to Colombia, was still alive. “I couldn’t romanticize her or make her into a heroine,” Vergara says. “She was in Medellín.” But once she was dead (she was killed in 2012), Vergara says, “I was able to piece the story together and give it an ending.”
If Blanco’s death gave Vergara freedom, discovering Netflix’s “Narcos” gave her a path forward. She knew her creative team would understand the character instantly. But what were the chances they would believe? his As one of the world's most ruthless drug dealers? Turns out he's pretty good. Still, “There's no way Netflix thinks Gloria Pritchett is going to be able to do this,” Vergara says, quickly adding that the network was immediately, totally, and surprisingly supportive.
It was not until Vergara, a few months into filming, that… she Become the skeptic. “How am I going to play this?” she recalls asking herself. “I’ve never done anything like this. I didn’t even know if I could cry on camera.” First she panicked. Then she enlisted renowned acting coach Nancy Banks, who has worked with the likes of Margot Robbie and Jennifer Aniston. “The most important thing, for me, was for people to forget about Gloria Pritchett.”
For “Griselda,” Sofia Vergara wore a wig, as well as a prosthetic nose, eyebrows and teeth.
(NETFLIX)
While Vergara’s hard work with Banks got her far, she needed a little more help to get there. “I knew I needed to transform myself so I didn’t look like myself or Gloria,” she says, grateful that Blanco’s face isn’t as universally recognizable as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis or Princess Diana. “But I also needed it to look natural and not bother me, because for six months I was in every scene on that TV show. 16- or 17-hour days. I was the first one on set, in the makeup trailer. I couldn’t take my makeup off.” [any of it] “At lunchtime I took off my wig, my nose, my eyebrows and the plastic around my eyes. The only thing I could take off were my teeth.”
But alas, those teeth were very complicated. “I had false teeth on the top and bottom,” Vergara reveals, adding that during the first week of production, they kept falling out of her mouth during scenes where she was shouting orders. “It was very funny, but… you can’t give orders to kill someone while you’re lisping,” she laughs. The bottom set of dentures was discarded and Vergara was free to go.
Acting in her native language — something she was initially anxious about because she had never done it before — turned out to be a blessing. “I didn’t have to translate, search for words or think,” she says. “It was just about connecting with the feelings and the scene. I really liked that part. It was amazing.”
During filming, Vergara and company knew they were working on something special. “Those sets were spectacular. You really felt like you were in that era,” she says, noting that she recognized the scripts and entire cast as top-notch. “I don’t think anyone was thinking about awards or nominations at that time, but just making something that felt really good.”
However, Vergara already has her first Emmy nomination for a drama. “I actually thought the show was going to get nominated, not me,” she says, laughing. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I was really excited for myself and for everyone else, because it was really unexpected.”
Vergara has been nominated four times for “Modern Family” without ever taking home the statuette. Can she win for “Griselda”? “The truth is that for me it is already a triumph,” she says. “I am very, very happy. My biggest reward was the great premiere that Netflix had in Miami, [where the audience] “I was applauding when Griselda got away with doing the most horrible things,” he says, laughing.
The actress must have enjoyed her time on the dark side, because she and “Griselda” co-creator Eric Newman are already working on their next project, which will likely become another dramatic miniseries. At the center of the plot is a character “very different from Griselda,” Vergara notes, “but very strong, very powerful, too. So that’s exciting.”
