Sofia Vergara Films ‘Griselda’ Netflix Series Based On ‘Cocaine Godmother’ Griselda Blanco

Sofia Vergara is transforming herself into Griselda Blanco, the “Cocaine Godmother” of the Colombian Medellín cartel, as part of a Netflix miniseries exploring her life. According to a social media post from Vergara, Griselda wrapped its first week of shooting on Saturday.

The production is employing several techniques to enhance Vergara’s likeness to the real-life figure of Blanco. In photos released from the set, it appears that Vergara is wearing prosthetics on her nose and chin to look more similar to Blanco, as well.

In a Deadline interview, Vergara described Griselda Blanco as “a larger-than-life character whose ruthless but ingenious tactics allowed her to rule a billion-dollar empire years before many of the most notorious male kingpins we all know.”

Vergara called the series a “passion project” on her Instagram post celebrating the week’s wrap, and she has reportedly been trying to get it made for eight years. The series showrunner Ingrid Escajeda has previously worked on Empire and Justified.

Vergara and Escajeda are also teaming up with Eric Newman, Doug Miro, Andrés Baiz and Carlo Bernard–known for the smash-hit Netflix franchise Narcos–to help realize the project as producers and writers, but Griselda will not tie into the Narcos world.

Baiz, a Colombia native, will also direct the series, with Vergara lauding their choice of a Latino director to helm the project in her Instagram post.