Earlier this month, it was revealed that the ever busy Steven Soderbergh was producing with an eye to direct a movie about The Panama Papers scandal, which brought to light the details of global financial corruption by some of the most powerful players of the worldwide elite. The picture has Scott Z. Burns (“The Informant!,” “Contagion,” “Side Effects“) working on the script, with the forthcoming book “Secrecy World” by Jake Bernstein serving as the source material. But it looks like they’ll have some major competition.
Netflix has announced they’ve snapped up the rights to “Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the World’s Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money,” the recently released book by German investigative journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer who were part of the team who broke the story. For more cred, Gerard Ryle and Marina Walker, key members from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists are on-board as collaborators, with John Wells Productions (“Burnt,” “August: Osage County,” “Love and Mercy“) also involved.
There’s no word yet of a director, screenwriter, or cast, but certainly the foundation is very impressive. Who will get first to the post on this one remains to be seen, but as history has shown, when it comes to competing projects, you generally don’t want to be coming in second.