Yorgos Lanthimos is set to direct an adaptation of “The Man in the Rockefeller Suit,” which is development at Fox Searchlight Television, a rep for the division confirmed to TheWrap. It is based on the best-selling book by Mark Seal.
David Gilbert is adapting the screenplay for the limited series, which will tell the true story of Clark Rockefeller, a gregarious, successful, and mysterious descendant of the Rockefeller clan. When his wife Sandra begins to suspect that Clark isn’t who he says he is, his decades-long web of deception slowly begins to unravel.
Lanthimos and Fox Searchlight worked together earlier this year on “The Favourite,” which earned 10 Oscar nominations – among them Best Picture and Best Director with Olivia Colman winning for Best Actress.
The project was originally set to be a feature, with Pablo Trapero previously attached to direct in 2016. Benedict Cumberbatch was also at one point attached to star as the famous con-artist, and David Bar Katz was set to write. Though the project has changed direction, Donald De Line remains the executive producer, now with Lanthimos and Element Pictures as well.
Deadline was first to break the news that Lanthimos is directing the adaptation.
23 White Actors Miscast in Nonwhite Roles, From Mickey Rooney to Emma Stone (Photos)
Hollywood just doesn't seem to learn from its mistakes as it continues to cast white actors in nonwhite roles again and again. And again.
Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Roger Ebert, Beatrice Aguirre Zuniga
More caricature than character, Rooney starred as the buck-toothed, Japanese Mr. Yunioshi in the 1961 film, which has faced volumes of criticism since.
The "Jailhouse Rock" singer played a Native American rodeo rider in the 1968 comedy Western. Along with this miscasting, many also criticized the film's use of stereotypes and offensive humor.
Movieclips Classic Trailers
Peter Sellers in "The Party" (1968)
The English actor wore brown face for his role as Hrundi V. Bakshi, an Indian actor, in the comedy film. "The Party" was also called out for its racist humor and perpetuating South Asian stereotypes.
Schneider seems to play a different ethnicity in every Adam Sandler movie. In "The Waterboy" he was the "You can do it!" guy, in "Big Daddy," he was a Middle-Eastern deliveryman, and in "50 First Dates," he plays a native Hawaiian. Badly.
In the 2007 drama film, Jolie plays Mariane Pearl, a real-life journalist of Afro-Chinese-Cuban descent, though the actress herself is of mixed-European descent.
The movie follows a group of math students who come up with a card-counting strategy to win big in Vegas. While the movie had a predominantly white cast, the real-life MIT students were Asian American.
Sony
Jake Gyllenhaal in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" (2010) Gyllenhaal plays a Middle Eastern prince in the film, which many called "insulting" and "the perfect example of whitewashing."
Johnny Depp played a Native American in Disney's film, which sparked outrage among fans and critics despite the actor's claims that his great-grandmother had mostly Cherokee blood.
Scarlett Johansson, who consistently takes on roles for nonwhite actors, plays the Japanese lead in this lackluster film. Nevertheless, this miscasting sparked a larger conversation on Hollywood's whitewashing of Asian roles.
Paramount Pictures
1 of 24
Rooney as Japanese? Stone as Chinese/Swedish/Hawaiian? TheWrap looks at history of racially misguided castings
Hollywood just doesn't seem to learn from its mistakes as it continues to cast white actors in nonwhite roles again and again. And again.