''The Infiltrator'' is a 2016 American biographical

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by Brad Furman and written by his mom Ellen Brown Furman. The film is based on the eponymous autobiography by Robert Mazur, a U.S. Customs special agent, who in the 1980s helped bust

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...

's money-laundering organization by going undercover as a corrupt businessman. The film stars Bryan Cranston as Mazur, with Diane Kruger, Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo, Saïd Taghmaoui, Joe Gilgun and Amy Ryan in supporting roles. Filming began on February 23, 2015, in London. Both Mazur and Cranston received executive producer credits. The film premiered at the Tampa Theatre on July 6, 2016 and was released the following week in theaters. The film received a generally positive response from critics, but a poor response from audiences, as it grossed $22 million against a budget of between $28 and $47 million.

Plot

During the 1980s,

U.S. Customs Service The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected borde ...

special agent Robert Mazur uses his undercover alias "Bob Musella" to become a pivotal player for

drug lords ''Drug Lords'' is a 2018 American docu-series exploring real-life drug-dealing cartels and kingpins such as Pablo Escobar, the Cali Cartel, Frank Lucas and the Pettingill family. Premise ''Drug Lords'' explores real-life drug-dealing cartels and k ...

laundering their dirty cash. Later, he infiltrates the world's largest cartel, and helps expose the money-laundering organization of drug lord

and take down the

Bank of Credit and Commerce International The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was an international bank founded in 1972 by Agha Hasan Abedi, a Pakistani financier. The bank was registered in Luxembourg with head offices in Karachi and London. A decade after opening, BCC ...

(BCCI), which had secretly taken illegal ownership of First American Bankshares in Washington, D.C.

Cast

* Bryan Cranston as US Customs Special Agent Robert Mazur / Bob Musella * Diane Kruger as Kathy Ertz * John Leguizamo as Emir Abreu * Benjamin Bratt as Roberto Alcaino * Amy Ryan as Bonni Tischler * Jason Isaacs as Mark Jackowski * Joe Gilgun as Dominic * Daniel Mays as Frankie * Yul Vazquez as Javier Ospina * Simón Andreu as Gonzalo Mora Sr. * Rubén Ochandiano as Gonzalo Mora Jr. * Juliet Aubrey as Evelyn Mazur * Olympia Dukakis as Aunt Vicky * Saïd Taghmaoui as Amjad Awan * Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Steve Cook *

Elena Anaya Elena Anaya Gutiérrez (born 17 July 1975) is a Spanish actress. She garnered public recognition in Spain for her performance in ''Sex and Lucia'' (2001), which also earned her a nomination to the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress. She sta ...

as Gloria Alcaino * Dinita Gohil as Farhana Awan * Carsten Hayes as Rudy Armbrecht * Juan Cely as The Informant * Andy Beckwith as Joe * Michael Paré as

Barry Seal Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal (July 16, 1939 – February 19, 1986) was an American commercial airline pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel. When Seal was convicted of smuggling charges, he became an informant for the Drug ...

* Mark Holden as Eric Wellman

Production

The project was first announced by '' The Hollywood Reporter'' on October 8, 2014, with Brad Furman as director and Bryan Cranston as Robert Mazur; Miriam Segal produced the film for her Good Films banner along with George Films. Relativity International was announced to sell the film to foreign distributors at the

American Film Market The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held each year in early November. Historically, more than 7,000 people attend the eight-day annual event to network and to sell, finance and acquire films. Participants come from more than ...

. On February 13, 2015, Diane Kruger was chosen to star for the unspecified female lead role. Benjamin Bratt was selected to star in the film as Roberto Alcaino, the agent's contact who dealt directly with cartel board members, including Escobar. On March 10, 2015, additional cast members were chosen, including John Leguizamo, Amy Ryan, Olympia Dukakis,

, and Juliet Aubrey. Broad Green Pictures acquired the US rights to the film on May 21, 2015. Cranston and Leguizamo previously worked together in '' The Lincoln Lawyer'', which Furman directed.

Filming

Filming was previously set to begin in March 2015 in Tampa, Florida, but then moved to London and Paris. According to ''SSN Insider'', filming began on February 23, 2015. On March 11, 2015, the studio confirmed that filming was underway in London and released a first-look image from the film. The production moved to Florida at the end of April; filming began in Tampa on April 22, 2015, on location at

Port Tampa Bay Port Tampa Bay, known as the Port of Tampa until January 2014, is the largest port in the state of Florida and is overseen by the Tampa Port Authority, a Hillsborough County, Florida, Hillsborough County agency. The port is located in Tampa, Flori ...

. On April 28, 2015, they filmed in Parkland Estates, near the former home of Santo Trafficante, an infamous Tampa mob boss.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, ''The Infiltrator'' opened on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, and was projected to gross $5–8 million from 1,600 theaters in its opening five days. The film grossed $773,761 on its first day and $5.3 million in its opening weekend (a five-day total of $6.7 million), finishing eighth at the box office.

Critical response

, the film holds a 72% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 179 reviews and an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Infiltrator''s compelling fact-based story and tremendously talented cast are often just enough to balance out its derivative narrative and occasionally clunky execution." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Lawsuit

In 2016, Javier Ospina Baraya sued Robert Mazur and the makers of the film for what he alleged was an erroneous impression given of him. In 2019 the Florida State Appeals Court ruled the suit could proceed.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Infiltrator 2016 films 2010s biographical films 2016 crime drama films 2016 crime thriller films American biographical films American crime drama films American crime thriller films Films directed by Brad Furman Broad Green Pictures films Films shot in London Films shot in Florida Films set in the 1980s Crime films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Films about organized crime in the United States Biographical films about drug traffickers Biographical films about Pablo Escobar Films based on biographies Biographical films about criminals Biographical films about gangsters Films about Colombian drug cartels Films shot at Pinewood Studios 2010s English-language films 2010s American films