De Niro tackles Madoff role in HBO’s The Wizard of Lies

STOCKBROKER, investment adviser and financier Bernie Madoff made headlines around the world in 2008 when he was arrested for perpetrating perhaps the largest financial fraud in US history.

The HBO Original Film The Wizard of Lies examines Madoff’s deception, lies and cover-up, as the financier’s wife and sons are catapulted into a harsh and unrelenting spotlight.

Robert De Niro ( far right), the Academy Award winner for Raging Bull and The Godfather II, comes to HBO for the first time in the role of family patriarch Madoff.

Michelle Pfeiffer (Golden Globe winner for The Fabulous Baker Boys) stars as Madoff’s longtime spouse Ruth, his unwitting partner during the events that would lead to financial ruin for countless people and institutions, as well as his and his family’s destruction.

The Wizard of Lies is directed by Barry Levinson from a script by Sam Levinson, John Burnham Schwartz and Samuel Baum.

The script is based on Diana B. Henriques’ 2011 New York Times bestselling book The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust, which featured more than 100 interviews, including Madoff’s first interviews since his arrest.

Additional source material was also taken from Laurie Sandell’s Truth and Consequences.

The film also stars Alessandro Nivola as Mark Madoff, Nathan Darrow as Andrew Madoff, Kristen Connolly as Mark’s wife Stephanie, Lily Rabe as Andrew’s fiancée Catherine Hooper, and Hank Azaria as Frank DiPascali, Bernie’s righthand man in the Ponzi scheme.

Henriques also appears as herself in the film. – AFP

The Wizard of Lies premieres at the same time as the US on May 21 at 8am, with a same day primetime encore at 9pm, exclusively on HBO ( Astro channels 411/431). It will also be available online via Astro Go on HBO on Demand.