De Niro, right, and Madoff
Vito Corleone, Al Capone and now Bernie Madoff.
The rogue’s gallery of villains and crooks Robert De Niro has played in his career just got a very fresh (and still painful to some) addition.
De Niro is set to star in an HBO production that will tell the story of Bernie Madoff and his $50 billion Ponzi scheme. De Niro will also be the executive producer of the project, together with his partner Jane Rosenthal, through their TriBeCa Productions. The movie is partially based on “The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust,” a book by Diana B. Henriques.
Bernie Madoff was arrested almost three years ago and pleaded guilty to cheating thousands of investors out of billions of dollars. He is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence. His name returned to the news recently after his wife Ruth finally talked to the media about suicide attempts by her and Bernie. Their son Mark committed suicide last year.
The film is in its very early stages and has yet to be officially green-lighted.
