Outside of their producing roles through their Pearl Street production company, it’s been a fairly long time since Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have combined forces on a film. But thanks to McDonald’s and Monopoly, we’re getting a new collaboration between the two stars, and it sounds like it might be pretty great.
According to Deadline, Fox has recently won a bidding war for the rights to a film based on a recent Daily Beast article about how one man, and some co-conspirators, cheated at the McDonald’s Monopoly sweepstakes and walked away with $24 million. The untitled film will see Ben Affleck step behind the camera to direct, and Matt Damon taking his place as the star. Joining the duo is another popular duo, “Deadpool” writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who will pen the script.
As mentioned, the story follows an ex-cop who claimed to have won the million dollar sweepstakes. However, little did he know, the FBI was conducting a sting operation to uncover just how the game was rigged. Deadline sums it up best when the report says the investigation led to “a wide conspiracy that involved mobsters, psychic, strip-club owners, drug traffickers and a family of Mormons who falsely claimed to have won more than $24 million in cash and prizes.”
The report claims that the rights to the story were part of a massive bidding war that included the likes of Universal, Warner Bros., and Netflix, with names like Kevin Hart, Steve Carell, and Robert Downey, Jr. rumored to be involved. However, Fox won the day, and with that, audiences will see Affleck and Damon’s take on the true story.
Affleck and Damon have worked together on numerous projects over the years, most famously winning an Oscar for their work on the script for “Good Will Hunting.” Since then, the two have had massive careers, both as A-listers, with Damon working in major franchises and Affleck doing the same but also dabbling in a bit of directing.
No release date on the film, as the article that the film will be based on was only published less than a week ago. However, you can expect to hear much more about the project in the coming months.
