Jimmy Hoffa Docuseries In The Works At Village Roadshow From Erik Nelson

Peter White
·2-min read

Notorious mob consort Jimmy Hoffa is the subject of a new docuseries.

Hoffa, who led the Teamsters for around 15 years in the late ‘50s and ‘60s, disappeared on July 30, 1975, with many believing this was at the hands of the Mafia.

More from Deadline

His family has now given Village Roadshow Unscripted Television and Erik Nelson exclusive access to the family, including his son and daughter, as well as his personal archives and files, including audio tapes, to develop a docuseries.

Nelson will produce and direct; he previously directed a number of films with Werner Herzog including Grizzly Man and has directed films such as The Cold Blue, Terror and Glory: 1945 and Daytime Revolution. He is repped by Travis Tammero at UTA and Marc Simon at Fox Rothschild.

Hoffa, who has been played by the likes of Al Pacino in The Irishman, Sylvester Stallone in F.I.S.T, and Jack Nicholson in Hoffa, is a complicated character.

He was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971 and helped that union grow with a number of major agreements, but he was also accused of having a dictatorial management style and was involved with organized crime. He was convicted of jury tampering, attempted bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud in 1964 and was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1967 before being commuted by President Nixon in 1971.

Hoffa’s son James P. Hoffa, said, “For so many years the world has focused on my father’s tragic demise, when the real story – how a boy living in Depression era Indiana coal country with a widowed mother rose up in Detroit to become the president of, without argument, the most powerful union in America – has never really been told. My father’s working relationship with all of the civil rights leaders of his time towards the same goal: legitimizing and improving the lives of working people. We hope that by opening our own family archive and working with Village Roadshow and Erik [Nelson], the full story can finally be told of a multifaceted and fascinating family man who helped create the American middle class.”

“What caught our attention about Jimmy Hoffa’s story is that it is a compelling topic of interest and point of intrigue still for many. It has all the elements of a captivating drama with power struggle, corruption, and a high-profile disappearance that also aligns with the kinds of impactful stories about notable, cultural figures that we want to tell,” added Shannon Perry, Village Roadshow Television’s EVP, Reality & Production Services.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories