Based on Maddow’s 2018 podcast, the story centers on Spiro T. Agnew, the VP to former President of the United States Richard Nixon, and the bribery and extortion ring he ran during his time in office and was investigated for by the US Attorney for the District of Maryland in 1973, during the height of the Watergate scandal. The podcast was recently translated into a novel, whose logline reads as follows:
Is it possible for a sitting vice president to direct a vast criminal enterprise within the halls of the White House? To have one of the most brazen corruption scandals in American history play out while nobody’s paying attention? And for that scandal to be all but forgotten decades later? The year was 1973, and Spiro T. Agnew, the former governor of Maryland, was Richard Nixon’s second-in-command. Long on firebrand rhetoric and short on political experience, Agnew had carried out a bribery and extortion ring in office for years, when at the height of Watergate three young fed
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Ben Stiller To Direct Film Adaptation Of Rachel Maddow s Bag Man Podcast
Actor-filmmaker Ben Stiller is set to direct the movie adaptation of Rachel Maddow s hit 2018 podcast Bag Man . According to Deadline, Focus Features is developing the project. Stiller is also co-writing the script with Adam Perlman and Mike Yarvitz, who produced the original podcast. Based on one of the most brazen political bribery scandals in American History, Bag Man focuses on the 1973 political scandal surrounding Richard Nixon s vice president Spiro Agnew, who quietly ran a bribery and extortion ring while nobody was paying attention. The improbable story asks: Is it possible for an American Vice President to carry out a criminal enterprise inside the White House and have nobody remember? A book on the podcast, titled Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House, was published in December 2020. It was co-penned by Maddo
Ben Stiller to Direct Adaptation of Rachel Maddow s Bag Man Podcast
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Ben Stiller is set to direct “Bag Man,” a big-screen adaptation of Rachel Maddow’s hit podcast. The film is being developed at Focus Features.
In addition to directing duties, Stiller is also co-writing the script with Adam Perlman and Mike Yarvitz. The latter executive produced the podcast, which debuted in 2018, and later penned the book with Maddow.
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The cast has not been announced.
Based on one of the most brazen political bribery scandals in American History, “Bag Man” centers on the 1973 political scandal surrounding Richard Nixon’s vice president Spiro Agnew, who quietly ran a bribery and extortion ring while nobody was paying attention. The improbable story asks: Is it possible for an American Vice President to carry out a criminal enterprise inside the White House and have nobody remember?