George Santos movie in the works at HBO
HBO is reportedly set to produce a movie about Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was just expelled from Congress after a damning ethics report.
Deadline reported on Monday that the network has optioned the rights to author Mark Chiusano’s new book on the disgraced politician.
Chiusano’s book, “The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos,” was published last week.
Former “Veep” and “Succession” producer Frank Rich and Mike Makowsky, writer-producer of HBO award-winning film “Bad Education,” will executive produce the Santos’ film project with Chiusano serving as a consulting producer, per Deadline.
The unnamed film, now under development, will focus on the meteoric rise of Santos, who won his state’s 3rd Congressional District in last November’s midterm elections. Santos became a national name after damning reports that he invented much of his biography, followed by criminal charges of financial fraud.
The news of the film project comes just days after the House, in a 311-114-2 tally, voted to expel Santos from Congress Friday, officially ending his tumultuous tenure as a congressman. Santos, 35, becomes the sixth lawmaker ever to be ousted from the lower chamber.
The House Ethics Committee’s report alleges Santos “blatantly stole from his campaign” and “deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were, in fact, payments for his personal benefit.”
Santos has pleaded not guilty to 23 criminal counts on allegations that he misled donors, fraudulently received unemployment benefits, inflated his campaign finance reports and charged donors’ credit cards without authorization.
“Thanks! I’m really excited for this project,” Chiusano said in a statement to The Hill, saying his book “is an attempt to get inside Santos’s head, explaining why he does the things he does and portraying this wild story in full.”
Updated at 4:54 pm.
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