Earlier this month, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Steven Soderbergh would be producing a movie about the Panama Papers leak, which revealed how many public officials and celebrities escaped taxes by creating offshore shell companies. This morning, Netflix announced that it would also be creating a movie about the data leak, also based on a book by journalists involved in the leak of the papers.
“This is probably the most important political story of recent times,” Netflix’s Ted Sarandos told The Guardian, “so I imagine there will be many different stories and angles to come from it. We think ours will be the definitive take.”
The book that the movie is being based on, titled Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the World’s Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money, was written by Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer. The movie will be about how the two journalists and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists leaked the 11 million documents with help from a still-anonymous source, John Doe. John Wells and Claire Rudnick Polstein will produce the movie, and Zach Studein will serve as executive producer. Obermaier and Obermayer will be involved in the creation of the movie alongside ICIJ deputy director Marina Walker and ICIJ’s D.C. head Gerard Ryle.
“We are confident that between the expert investigative work of Obermaier and Obermayer, the only journalists in touch directly with John Doe, the ICIJ, and the master storytelling of John Wells Productions, we will be able to deliver a gripping tale that will deliver the same type of impact as the The Panama Papers when they were first revealed on the world’s front pages,” Sarandos told Deadline.
Netflix has not revealed the film’s director, writers or cast members yet.