‘Big Short’ Writer Adam McKay: El Chapo ‘Was Brought Down by a Love of Celebrity’ (Video)

The drug kingpin was arrested in Mexico on Friday morning one day before it was revealed Sean Penn interviewed him for Rolling Stone

“The Big Short” writer Adam McKay loves the fact that fugitive Mexican drug kingpin El Chapo was “brought down by a love of celebrity.”

“It’s a fun story, it combines a lot of things that America loves, but I do think it’s hilarious that ultimately, [El Chapo] was brought down by a love of celebrity,” McKay told TheWrap. “That’s the part maybe Hollywood can take a little credit for.”

McKay goes on to say that the story, written by Sean Penn and published in Rolling Stone, and its entire spectacle were “meaningless.”

“I think it’s like someone wrote a news story as a gift for the American media,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s kind of meaningless. It’s not really about anything. The guy wasn’t really running the Sinaloa cartel anymore. He was more just a fugitive.”

In Penn’s story, El Chapo revealed the full details of his drug operation, as well as his escape from prison last summer.

The lengthy in-person and follow-up interviews by phone and video began in October. At the time, El Chapo was one of the most wanted fugitives in the world. Penn wrote that the interview took place in a jungle clearing.

The Associated Press reported from Mexico that the interview with Penn ultimately led police to recapture El Chapo, who was taken into custody last week in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, after six months on the run.

Watch the video.

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