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ON THE HEELS of the arrest of nine current and former Fifa officials in relation to a $150 million bribery scandal and the resignation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter days later, Hollywood has already begun working on a film about the scandal that has rocked the soccer world.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, among others, will produce a film that looks at the American soccer exec at the center of the scandal.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gavin O’Connor (Warrior) will direct the film, which will adapt the upcoming book Houses of Deceit, by BuzzFeed investigative reporter Ken Bensinger that is regarded as the definitive account of American FIFA exec Chuck Blazer’s role in arguably the largest sports scandal in history.
Warner Bros won the bidding war for the book rights, which, according to THR, lasted over eight days of negotiations.
Affleck and Damon will share producing credits along with Guymon Casady (Game of Thrones) and Darin Friedman.
O’Connor recently wrapped directing The Accountant, starring Affleck.
The book, Houses of Deceit, follows Blazer’s incredible efforts to make soccer relevant in the US, going from unemployed soccer dad to becoming Fifa executive committee member and executive VP of the US Soccer Federation.
But the man behind the lucrative sponsorship and TV deals led a life of excess that included an apartment in Trump Towers that Blazer used only for his cats.
Around 2010, things began to unravel for Blazer when allegations of bribery surfaced. When the Fifa scandal broke, news came out that Blazer admitted to accepting bribes with other Fifa members while also being an informant for the FBI.
No word yet on when Warner Bros will begin production on the project.
Houses of Deceit is based on Besinger’s 2014 investigative piece for BuzzFeed.
Originally published at 17.04
