George Santos’ ‘Gatsby-esque’ journey is getting the Hollywood treatment
Producer of Veep and Succession is now working on bringing the story of serial fabulist ex-congressman Mr Santos to life on the big screen
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The stunning rise and fall of serial fabulist George Santos is already being made into a film.
HBO Films has obtained the rights to the new book The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos by Mark Chiusano, which was published on 28 November, according to Deadline.
A film based on the book is now in development and is described as “a forensic and darkly comic look at the crazy, unprecedented congressional race on Long Island that led to Santos being elected,” the outlet reported.
It tells the story of Mr Santos’s local Long Island race for Congress, his rise to fame and his swindling and lying to get there.
“It follows the Gatsby-esque journey of a man from nowhere who exploited the system, waged war on truth and swindled one of the wealthiest districts in the country to achieve his American Dream,” Deadline reported.
Frank Rich, who produced the political satire Veep and the Murdoch empire-inspired Succession series on HBO, is bringing the story of Mr Santos to the big screen as one of the executive producers.
Mike Makowsky, the writer and producer of Bad Education, wrote the film and is also an executive producer, while Mr Chiusano is a consulting producer.
Mr Santos was expelled from the House on Friday after almost half of all Republicans joined with Democrats in backing his ouster.
In total, 311 members voted to remove Mr Santos, easily crossing the two-thirds threshold of 290 – 114 members voted against his removal, two voted present, and eight didn’t vote.
The booting of Mr Santos came almost a year after stories of his lies began to appear in the press, initially in the North Shore Leader and The New York Times.
After surviving two previous motions to expel him, the third time was the charm for the 35-year-old – following an investigation by the House Ethics Committee which found “substantial evidence” that he violated federal law.
Mr Santos, who was also previously indicted on several felony charges, including wire fraud and identity theft, is only the third Member of Congress to be removed since the Civil War and the only one to be booted without first having been convicted of a criminal offence. He has denied all wrongdoing.
The initial revelations of Mr Santos’s fibs and lies came shortly after his 2022 election victory before he had even been sworn in to Congress, when it emerged he had made up large parts of his resume and background.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments