While many of us are still trying to figure out what John Krasinski‘s next directorial effort will be after he tackles “IF“, he’s producing a rather interesting feature film with “King of Oil.” The pic will explore the story of the international commodities trader and founder of Glencore, Marc Rich. Rich was indicted in the U.S. on 65 criminal counts that included tax evasion, wire fraud, racketeering, and striking deals for oil with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis. But at that point, Rich had already fled the U.S. for Switzerland and never returned, dying there in 2013 at the age of 78.
“King of Oil” has finally landed a director as Deadline reports that Peter Landesman (“Concussion“) is now attached to the project. Screenwriting duo Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse adapted Daniel Ammann’s biography “The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich.”
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It’s also worth noting that the fugitive famously received a pardon in 2001 from then-President Bill Clinton.
The new report reminds us that Matt Damon (“Ford v Ferarri“) was once attached to play Rich but it’s unclear if he remains on the project as it was at Universal but is in turnaround and a new studio isn’t being named. It wouldn’t be hard to make assumptions that as a producer Krasinski himself could end up taking over the lead from Damon to help get folks onboard so that “King of Oil” can get made.
Krasinski directed the last two “A Quiet Place” movies with a third installment on the way and is also involved with the spinoff “A Quiet Place: Day One.” On the acting front, he recently worked on a third season of Amazon‘s thrilling “Jack Ryan” series based on the string of C.I.A novels penned by Tom Clancy.