A film based on Ben Mezrich’s forthcoming book about the rise and fall of Russian oligarchs has been given the go-ahead, with Hercules director Brett Ratner on board.
According to reports, Warner Bros has stepped in to option Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs — A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder, along with Ratner’s RatPac production company. The idea was apparently initially suggested to Mezrich by Ratner – who according to the Hollywood Reporter “has personal relations with several Russian oligarchs”.
Two of Mezrich’s non-fiction books have already become films – The Accidental Billionaires, which was adapted as The Social Network, and Bringing Down the House, which became 21 – while an adaptation of his 2014 novel, Seven Wonders, is currently in production (also with RatPac).
Once Upon a Time in Russia’s publishers, Simon and Schuster, say the book, which is due to be published on 2 June, is “the untold true story of the larger-than-life billionaire oligarchs who surfed the waves of privatisation to reap riches after the fall of the Soviet regime”, and focusses primarily on the activities of Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich.
Berezovsky, a former mathematician, made huge amounts of money buying state companies cheaply as Russia’s communist system crumbled in the 90s, but he quarrelled with Putin shortly after the latter’s election as president in 2000, and was forced into exile. He died in mysterious circumstances in the UK in 2013. Abramovich, once Berezovsky’s protege, joined him in buying the enormous Sibneft oil company for a fraction of its later value, and later acquired Chelsea football club in 2003. The two men fell out after Berezovsky sued Abramovich for blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract, but the claim was dismissed and Berezovsky was ordered to pay Abramovich £35m in costs.
