AFFLECK to direct DAMON in sweepstakes scam movie
CHILDHOOD friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, cowriters and co-stars of 1997 breakthrough “Good Will Hunting” are teaming up with the writers of “Deadpool” for a real-life story about a fast food chain sweepstakes prize scam.
Less than a week after the account of a multi-million-dollar McDonald’s Monopoly fraud was published, it’s being turned into a film.
Jerome Jacobson served briefly as a Florida police officer before medical issues forced him to find work elsewhere. Eventually entering the private security industry, he found his stride and worked his way up to become director of security at a marketing company.
That company was running McDonald’s annual million-dollar sweepstakes, themed around board game “Monopoly” and TV quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”.
Despite a reputation for rigorous professionalism, in 2001 Jacobson confessed to distributing US$24 million worth of winning game pieces among friends, family, and even contacts in organised crime over the course of a 12-year period.
Following Jeff Maysh’s longform story in The Daily Beast published last July 28, 20th Century Fox outbid Universal, Warner Bros., Netflix and others for rights to the film for US$1 million.
Affleck and Damon will direct and lead the project respectively.
Damon and Affleck co-starred in “Good Will Hunting” (1997) and “Dogma” (1999) before setting up two production companies together, both operating as producers and lead actors for their own films as well as outside projects. Affleck has also branched out into directing, becoming something of a specialist in crime dramas such as “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Town” and “Live by Night”.
Damon’s starring role was not specified, but he might play either Jacobsen or the FBI’s investigating agent, Richard Dent. — Relaxnews