HBO has been trying to get their their Bernie Madoff biopic made since 2011, and now it looks like the TV movie is finally getting made.
Wizard of Lies, based on the book of the same name, is a deep look into Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme that landed him in prison for 150 years.
HBO acquired the rights to the book almost five years ago. Since then, at least three writers have taken a stab at bringing the money-grubbing financier of the small screen with no success, until now.
Robert DeNiro will star as Madoff with Michelle Pfeiffer playing his wife, Ruth Madoff. Alessandro Nivola is expected to play Bernie Madoff’s eldest son, Mark Madoff, who later committed suicide in teh wake of the financial scandal.
The TV movie will be directed by Barry Levinson (HBO’s You Dont Know Jack). Levinson previously directed a movie about the controversial end-of-life advocate Jack Kevorkian.
There is no exact date set for when HBO will air the feature film, but filming is expected to start by the end of the year.
Bernie Madoff is a former stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted mastermind of a Ponzi scheme that is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.
On December 10, 2008, Madoff’s sons told authorities that their father had confessed to them that the asset management unit of his firm was a massive Ponzi scheme, and quoted him as describing it as “one big lie”.The following day, FBI agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had previously conducted investigations into Madoff’s business practices, but had not uncovered the massive fraud.
On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies and admitted to turning his business into a massive Ponzi scheme. The Bernie Madoff investment scandal defrauded thousands of investors of billions of dollars. Bernie Madoff said he began the Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s.
