Benicio del Toro is in negotiations to portray Pablo Escobar in an upcoming drama.

The Che actor is said to be in final talks to play the Colombian drug lord in romance thriller Paradise Lost, Digital Spy reported citing Variety.

Paradise Lost follows young surfer Nick, who visits his brother in California and falls in love with a local girl called Maria.

However, their romance takes a surprise turn when Nick meets her uncle, Pablo Escobar.

The film is written by Life of Pi's Andrea di Stefano, who will also make his directorial debut.

Dimitri Rassam's Chapter 2 company has joined with Jerome Seydoux's Pathe and Frederique Dumas's Studio 37 to co-produce the project.

"For Chapter 2, Pathe and Studio 37, having Benicio Del Toro on board to play Pablo Escobar was an incredible motivation," said Rassam.

"He's one of the rare actors with enough charisma and range to play such a multi-faceted character as Escobar, who could be wonderfully charming yet dangerous and menacing."

Rassam added that the film will not be a biopic of Pablo Escobar and "will have a narrative structure in the vein of The Last King of Scotland, weaving Nick and Maria's romance with Nick's ambivalent and destructive relationship with Escobar".

Filming will begin in Panama in March 2013.

Del Toro has also signed up for the romantic film How the Light Gets In.

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