Wednesday, April 27, 2011

PONZI'S SCHEME AFOOT

NEW YORK -- The entertainment industry's lead trade publication VARIETY announced today that Starry Night Entertainment has hired screenwriter Christopher Weekes (MUPPET MAN) to pen the screenplay to PONZI'S SCHEME, based on Mitchell Zuckoff's best-seller PONZI'S SCHEME: THE TRUE STORY OF A FINANCIAL LEGEND. Film legend Milos Forman (AMADEUS, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST) is in talks to direct.

Producers Craig Saavedra (left) and Michael Shulman (right) with director Milos Forman at the 25th Anniversary screening of AMADEUS in London.

Screenwriter Christopher Weekes has been tapped to pen the biopic "Ponzi's Scheme," with Milos Forman in talks to helm.
Weekes, whose screenplay for Jim Henson pic "Muppet Man" attracted attention when it topped the 2009 Black List, will adapt Mitchell Zuckoff's 2006 bio "Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend" for the brewing feature. Jean Doumanian Prods. and Starry Night Entertainment produce.
Storyline follows the real-life trajectory of Italian immigrant Charles Ponzi, creator of the eponymous financial scam and the precursor to the headline-grabbing fiscal misdeeds of Bernard Madoff and Kenneth Lay.
Weekes is repped by Britton Rizzio at Circle of Confusion and David Karp and Adriana Alberghetti at WME, while Forman is repped by WME's Chris Donnelly and Aspland Management's Dennis Aspland.
Doumanian's slate of upcoming films includes screen adaptations of plays "August: Osage County" and "Blackbird," while Starry Night principals Michael Shulman and Craig Saavedra are at work developing a new Broadway tuner and a reality TV skein. Doumanian Prods. and Starry Night previously worked together on the recent Off Broadway production of Michael Shannon starrer "Mistakes Were Made."