Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will produce the film based on a book about Chuck Blazer, the man who built -- and profited off of -- American soccer.
The movie will focus on FIFA executive Chuck Blazer and his role in the huge sports and public corruption scandal chronicled in the to-be-published book "Houses of Deceit" about rampant wrongdoing in soccer's world governing body, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sorry, Frederic Auburtin, you aren't going to get a do-over. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gavin O'Connor, who recently wrapped the Affleck thriller "The Accountant," will direct and co-write the script.
Warner Bros. capped eight days of negotiations by winning the film rights to investigative reporter Ken Bensinger's upcoming book on Blazer's rise from unemployed American soccer dad to FIFA executive committee member known as "Mr. Ten Percent" for his cut from lucrative sponsorship and TV deals related to FIFA worldwide.
That cut bankrolled a lavish lifestyle that included two luxury condominiums in Trump Towers in Manhattan, one for him and one just for his cats.
His status as one of world soccer's top movers and shakers began to unravel amid allegations of bribery and tax evasion. Blazer -- while admitting to the bribery allegations -- became an informant, and was deemed a cooperating witness, in the FBI's investigation that culminated in May's arrests of numerous current and former FIFA executives.
According to The Hollywood Reporter's story, among several of the movie's potential protagonists from the book, in addition to federal agents, are "an IRS pencil pusher and then-U.S. attorney, now-Attorney General Loretta Lynch."
Bensinger was a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who surprised many when he left the Los Angeles Times for BuzzFeed in early 2014, but one of his first stories, published in June 2014, was an exhaustive look at Blazer, titled "Mr. Ten Percent: The Man Who Built -- And Bilked -- American Soccer." It became the basis for a book proposal that culminated in a deal last week with Simon & Schuster winning out over seven other publishers, The Hollywood Reporter said.
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