11:00 AM PST 2/5/2021
by
Borys Kit
Stiller will direct the Focus Features focus project that adapts the story of Maddow’s Peabody Award-winning podcast.
Ben Stiller came on board to direct Sak Man, a true life drama based on a Rachel Maddow podcast developed by Focus Features.
Adam Perlman co-wrote the screenplay with Stiller and Mike Yarvitz. The latter CEO produced the podcast that explored the hidden story of a corruption scandal that hit Richard Nixon’s White House and co-wrote the next book with Maddow.
Stiller and Yarvitz act as producers alongside Lorne Michaels and Josh McLaughlin.
The story focuses on Spiro T. Agnew, Nixon’s vice president, and he had a bribery and extortion for years. At the height of Watergate, three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes and embarked on a mission to take him down.
Agnew, according to the book publisher’s description, called the investigation a ‘witch hunt’, with parallels echoing to many modern times, and set up its base and planned to obstruct justice.
The podcast and book examined the cover-up attempts and the backroom transactions that kept Agnew out of jail.
Maddow will be an executive producer of the project, as well as Nicky Weinstock, Michael Price, Erin David and Andrew Singer.
Stiller was focused on his directing career of late and was looking for his directing challenge. He earned an Emmy nomination for Showtime’s award-winning series Limited 2018, Escape by Dannemora.