A Sam Bankman-Fried movie is in the works. Hollywood is tapping scriptwriter Lena Dunham to immortalize the jailed founder and CEO of fallen cryptocurrency exchange FTX, currently serving a 25-year jail term.
As per a Variety report, Apple Studios and A24 will adapt the Michael Lewis best-selling book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon to co-develop and co-produce the movie. Dunham is a renowned scriptwriter whose works have been featured in eight Emmy Award nominations, the best of which are the HBO series “Girls” and a Golden Globe.
Sam Bankman-Fried Movie in Early Stages of Development
The report on the Sam Bankman-Fried movie states that Apple Studios and A24 will focus on the remarkable ascension and equally outstanding implosion of the hedge fund and cryptocurrency exchange FTX alongside their founder. Lewis’s book about the life and times of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) hit the market in October 2023 and received an overwhelming reception, becoming a New York Times bestseller.
It will be interesting to watch which angle director and actress Lena Dunham will take in converting the book to a script for the Sam Bankman-fried movie. There’s every chance that the film, which could already be in the early stages of its development, could mainly focus on the circumstances surrounding FTX’s filing of bankruptcy in November 2022 that saw SBF and several of the company’s executives charged with fraud in the United States and the days that followed the bankruptcy filing brought the entire cryptocurrency industry into sharp media focus and scrutiny eventually leading to the 2022 crypto winter.
Other Filmmakers are working on Similar Projects
Apart from Apple Studios and A24, there are indications that several other filmmakers are also planning to create similar movies or documentaries focusing on different angles of the explosive story. For example, there’s talk about Fortune and Unrealistic ideas working on a film that would shed a spotlight on the relationship between Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the former founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. While both CZ and SBF have been taken to court for different reasons, CZ recently completed his four-month sentence and has since been released.
Amazon is also reportedly commissioning a limited edition Sam Bankman-Fried movie that will comprise a limited series produced by AGBO consisting of eight episodes. The Variety report revealed that the “Hunter” Amazon Prime series creator David Weil will lead the team in writing the script and going on to produce it. The industry can also expect another Sam Bankman-Fried movie or profile documentary by director Nanette Burstein of the 2020 documentary film “Hillary,” which told the story of US former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Several Other FTX Officials also indicted
The news about the development of a Sam Bankman-Fried movie comes at least two years after the infamous bankruptcy filing ahead of the fall off of the once-famous cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Since then, there have been a lot of legal issues surrounding the company, and so far, three of the five former officials of the exchange have been indicted and are cooling their heels in prison. Among them is Caroline Ellison, SBF’s girlfriend, who was also Alameda Research CEO. Also, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, Ryan Salame, and the exchange’s engineering director, Nishad Singh, have since pleaded guilty to numerous charges and received time served. FTX exchange co-founder Gary Wang will know his fate on November 20.
Conclusion
Apple Studios and A24 will put the story of how SBF founded the crypto exchange FTX in 2019 and saw it enjoy overwhelming support, which included commercials running during the 2022 Super Bowl. During its heydays, FTX was the talk of the town with celebrity endorsements from the likes of Larry David, Stephen Curry, and Tom Brady, among others. The story took a dramatic turn in March when a federal court sentenced the disgraced crypto entrepreneur to 25 years behind bars in addition to forfeiting $11 billion. The courts convicted SBF on fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering charges, and he has since appealed the conviction and sentence.
