Benicio del Toro Teams With Oliver Stone For 'Savages'

By Michael Lopez

Just the idea of Oliver Stone tackling a gritty film set in the world of organized crime sounds interesting. Nearly thirty years ago, the writer-director shot to fame for creating Scarface’s legendary Tony Montana. Now he’s looking to breathe life into the drug kingpins from the book Savages, locking in Benicio del Toro as a bad guy lead.

Based on the popular 2010 novel by Don Winslow, Savages tells the story of two Laguna Beach marijuana dealers who find themselves doing battle with a Mexican drug cartel. Mixing gritty violence with bits of dark comedy, the plot has quite a few twists and turns and an over-the-top finale, much like Stone’s Scarface.

Savages the movie already seems to be on the Hollywood fast track. Deadline has confirmed Benicio’s involvement and also teased rumors about Salma Hayek Pinault joining the ensemble as a "Mexican drug cartel matriarch."

With Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch now in talks to play the marijuana dealers, only one more role up for grabs. That would be O, the Laguna Beach female lead who winds up getting kidnapped by del Toro's character. Though recent Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence is under consideration, we can think of another California native who would be absolutely perfect.

Are you excited about Savages? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Benicio Del Toro, Hot Stuff, Movies, Movies & CineMás, Oliver Stone, Savages