Apple nearing deal for film about Sam Bankman-Fried and the fall of FTX

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Apple TV Plus Logo (Image credit: Apple)

Well, that didn't take long.

If you haven't been living under a rock, you've likely seen the news about the fall of FTX, one of the largest crypto trading platforms in the world today. Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the company, was seen as a god-like figure by the crypto and VC community due to his excellent trading skills.

However, the empire that Bankman-Fried built crumbled when FTX customers made a run on the bank after its competitor, Binance, sold its stake in FTT, the token that was issued by FTX. During the collapse, more issues came to light around how FTX was using its customer's money and concerns around theft and fraud by Bankman-Fried.

A film is on the way

Incredibly, through this entire process, Michael Lewis was following along with Bankman-Fried. Lewis, for those of you who are not familiar with the name, is the writer of a number of huge Hollywood films that are usually based on a true story. Some of the biggest films that have come from Lewis are Moneyball, The Big Short, and The Blind Side.

According to accounts, Lewis has been following Bankman-Fried for at least six months, so the author has likely gotten an inside look at a ton of shenanigans going on inside the company that many of us don't know just yet. Like his other writings, Lewis has been marketing a script for the story to be turned into a feature film. That's where Apple has stepped in.

According to a report from Deadline, the company is nearing a deal to acquire the film rights for a feature film based on a screenplay from Lewis. If it goes through, the company will have beaten out other streamers like Amazon and Netflix. Sources are saying that "they didn’t believe there was much to pitch other than the subject and the promise of a proper deep dive."

With Lewis' track record and the rumor that The Big Short's Adam McKay might be interested in directing, there are certainly the beginnings of a great film here. It's just crazy that we're already talking about a film while the collapse and fallout are still happening.

Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.