As is often the case among studios, a landmark event in real life often spawns multiple movies, and one need only look at Patriots Day and Boston Strong for evidence of that. The latest issue to receive the Hollywood spotlight is the Panama Papers, a massive data leak that exposed the ways in which the one percent of the one percent exploit legal loopholes and offshore accounts to avoid taxation.
It’s already caught the attention of Steven Soderbergh, who continues to postpone his self-imposed retire from the film world – heck, the filmmaker also has star-studded NASCAR thriller Logan Lucky simmering in development.
Now, Netflix’s budding content studio has snapped up the exclusive rights to The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the World’s Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money, the non-fiction page-turner by Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer that recently hit store shelves.
During their time at Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer were the only journalists to gain access to Mossack Fonseca, the Panama-based company that housed the some 11.5 million documents that soon made international headlines.
No casting announcements to report at this time, though the mere fact that Netflix has partnered with the two journos who had direct contact with the whistleblower behind the colossal leak is exciting in and of itself. In a statement, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos championed the deal as a major coup for the company’s movie arm.
“This is probably the most important political story of recent times, so I imagine there will be many different stories and angles to come from it. We think ours will be the definitive take. People want very smart storytelling in this complicated world. We’ve become so accustomed to just breezing past headlines that I think people really appreciate having the opportunity to dig a little deeper.”
Beyond its four-picture deal with Adam Sandler, Netflix’s production house has been gradually gaining momentum after turning heads and raising eyebrows with Beasts of No Nation.
It remains to be seen whether its Panama Papers feature will kick into gear before that of Steven Soderberg’s, but we’ll keep you posted regardless.
