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Training Day director Antoine Fuqua has confirmed that he is developing a biopic of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Speaking to SOHH, Fuqua revealed that the project has actually been in the works for several years as he tried to get the script absolutely right.

"I've been working on it for a while, man. I'm just trying to get the script right, it's a big story. I don't want to get it wrong," he said.

"I spent a lot of time in Medellin and Bogota, Miami as well. I know some real cats that used to run with him, with Escobar, and this guy 'Popeye'. 'Popeye' was his right-hand man, he's in prison."

During the 1980s, Escobar rose to dominate the world cocaine trade under the Medellin Cartel. At the height of his power in 1989, he was named the planet's seventh richest man by Forbes magazine, with an estimated wealth of $25 billion (£16.6bn).

However, Escobar was shot and killed in 1993 while trying to flee a raid by the Colombian National Police.

Speaking further about his research for the film, Fuqua said:

"I spent some time on the phone with Roberto, who is his brother, who was his accountant, and another cat who I can't say his name, which was one of his accountants and lives on the East Coast now and a few people in Argentina.

"So you know, for me, it's a little deeper than that, and I'm just trying to tell a story that's really about a young dude, a revolutionary who lost his way.

"That's really what Escobar was, he lost his way but he was on the path to do something great then he got lost and that's the story."