New Regency has boarded Dev Patel’s upcoming “Chippendales” project as a co-financier with Bold Films, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.
“Cruella” director Craig Gillespie is attached to direct the project.
David Permut, who has been trying to get the project off the ground for 20 years, will produce the project with New Regency and Bold Films. David Litvak, Gary Michael Walters, Michel Litvak and Svetlana Metkina are also producing for Bold.
Screenwriters Lauren Blum and Rebecca Angelo are rewriting the script. Craig Williams and Isaac Adamson wrote previous drafts of the script.
Patel is attached to play “Chippendales” founder Steve Banerjee, who went from pumping gas at his Mobil Gas station in Playa del Vista to launching the first “male exotic dance night for ladies only,” which went on to become an ’80s phenomenon. Banerjee would eventually get caught in a sting operation by the FBI over the murder of former partner and choreographer Nick De Noia. Banerjee eventually pleaded guilty to attempted arson, racketeering and murder for hire and was found dead in his jail cell in 1994.
New Regency has a theatrical distribution deal with 20th Century Studios at Disney.
Patel stars in David Lowery’s “The Green Knight” which opened in theaters on Friday.
Deadline first reported the news.
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