Netflix is teaming with the Panama Papers journalists to adapt their story into a film, TheWrap has learned.
German investigative journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermaye, who wrote the book “Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the World’s Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money,” will team with the streaming service and John Wells Productions to bring the book to the screen.
Netflix has acquired exclusive rights to the book and will work with producers Wells, Claire Rudnick Polstein and executive producer Zach Studin of John Wells Productions. Marina Walker, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists deputy director, and Gerard Ryle, who leads the ICIJ’s headquarters staff in Washington D.C., and oversaw the more than 400 journalists in 76 countries on the Panama Papers, are also on board to collaborate on the film.
“We are confident that between the expert investigative work of Obermaier and Obermayer, the only journalists in touch directly with John Doe, the ICIJ, and the master storytelling of John Wells Productions, we will be able to deliver a gripping tale that will deliver the same type of impact as the The Panama Papers when they were first revealed on the world’s front pages,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix.
This is the latest project to be announced regarding the Panama Papers. Steven Soderbergh recently announced he will produce and possibly direct a film about the investigation based on Jake Bernstein’s upcoming book “The Secrecy World.”
11.5 million files were unveiled by the journalists that linked some of the world’s most powerful figures to offshore bank accounts and shell companies used to hide wealth and avoid taxes.
Among those named in the documents were close associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the father of British Prime Minister David Cameron, relatives of China’s president Xi Jinping and soccer player Lionel Messi.