EXCLUSIVE: Ben Jacoby (upcoming Whisper Man) has been enlisted to pen a feature adaptation of the book American Huckster by Mary Papenfuss and Teri Thompson for 20th Century Studios, with Scott Free aboard to produce.
The project puts Jacoby back in business with 20th following his work writing The First Omen, produced by David S. Goyer.
Said to be in the vein of The Wolf of Wall Street with the acerbic tone of Catch Me If You Can, the film will tell the incredible story of how a stay-at-home New York soccer dad illegally made millions off the world’s most powerful and corrupt sports organization and became an unlikely FBI whistleblower.
Mike Pruss and Avital Siegel are overseeing the project for Scott Free, with Sarah Shepard and Catherine Hughes overseeing for 20th.
Jacoby most recently adapted Thomas Ray’s spy thriller novella Silencer for Paramount Pictures with Lorenzo DiBonaventura producing, as we reported exclusively. He also recently teamed with Chase Palmer to pen Netflix and AGBO’s The Whisper Man, a forthcoming adaptation of the Alex North serial killer novel starring Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton, Michelle Monaghan and Adam Scott.
In addition to The First Omen, Jacoby previously wrote Flash Boys, an adaptation of the New York bestseller from The Big Short‘s Michael Lewis for Netflix. Simu Liu is attached in the lead role of Brad Katsuyama, who blew the whistle on high-tech corruption in the financial industry, with Anthony Bregman set to produce. Jacoby also scripted To Catch a Killer, a crime thriller for director Damián Szifron & FilmNation that starred Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn.
On August 28, Scott Free will see the release of Ridley Scott’s 20th flick The Dog Stars starring Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce. Currently producing Edward Berger’s The Riders for A24, they also are at work this year on the films Inground, starring Jon Cho and Alexandra Daddario, and Here Be Monsters, with another installment in Scott’s Alien franchise coming up.
Jacoby is repped by CAA, Adam Kolbrenner’s Lit Entertainment Group, and attorney Lev Ginsburg of Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.
