EXCLUSIVE: Narcos series director and Good Girls filmmaker Alejandra Márquez Abella is set to helm an untitled Mennonite Crime Thriller based on Steve Fisher’s Los Angeles Times article ‘How a Mennonite Farmer Became a Drug Suspect” at Amazon MGM Studios. The project remains currently in development.
Abella and Manuel Alcala will write the script.’ The article follows a Mennonite farmer who makes a deal with the Sinaloa Cartel to use his land as an airstrip to traffic cocaine after his wife becomes sick. This leads to him being excommunicated from his community while simultaneously becoming feared by the cartels for his ruthless business dealings.
The film reunites Alejandra Márquez Abella and Select Films with Amazon MGM Studios.
Márquez Abella previously wrote and directed the Michael Peña-led and Select Films-produced A Million Miles Away, which the studio released in 2023. The film is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 89% Tomatometer rating and 94% Popcornmeter rating.
Mark Ciardi and Campbell McInnes will produce the thriller for Select Films. Fisher and The Los Angeles Times will executive produce.
Abella is represented by CAA, Brillstein, and Hansen Jacobson. Manuel Alcala is represented by 3 Arts.
Recently, Amazon MGM Studio’s Gavin O’Connor directed, Ben Affleck-Jon Bernthal sequel The Accountant clocked close to 80 million worldwide Prime Video viewers since its June 5 launch. That makes the movie Amazon MGM Studios’ second most-watched film of all time (measured over a 28-day period) on Prime Video. The pic also landed the No. 1 spot on Nielsen’s Movie chart on its debut week with 1.384 billion minutes streamed.
