Ben Affleck is teaming up with Warrior director Gavin O’Connor to bring the story of the Fifa corruption scandal to cinemas, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Affleck will produce a film that focuses on Chuck Blazer, the American former member of the football governing body’s executive committee, who provided the FBI with the information it needed to arrest Fifa officials on corruption charges, according to reports. Fourteen current and former Fifa executives were arrested at Fifa’s annual meeting in Zurich last month.
The film, which is as yet untitled, will be scripted by O’Connor and his regular collaborator Anthony Tambakis, based on reporting by Buzzfeed journalist Ken Bensinger.
Blazer, 70, pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including bribery, money laundering and tax evasion, in 2013. He co-operated with the FBI from 2011 and was reported as having recorded Fifa colleagues using a bug hidden in a key fob during meetings at the London 2012 Olympics.
O’Connor’s film will follow United Passions, a Fifa-produced biopic starring Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, into cinemas. That film, directed by Frédéric Auburtin, made history last week when it became one of the lowest grossing films in US history. It took $918 from 10 cinemas before being pulled by its distributor.
Meanwhile, Affleck, who is starring as Batman in the forthcoming DC films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and David Ayer’s ensemble superhero film Suicide Squad, is rumoured to be preparing to direct and star in his own solo Batman film, according to fan site Latino Review.
