Steven Soderbergh to Produce Movie on Panama Papers Leak

Steven Soderbergh has signed on to produce a movie based around the leak of the Panama Papers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Panama Papers encompass more than 11 million leaked documents from the Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca. The disclosure of the materials by an anonymous whistleblower revealed Mossack Fonseca’s extensive efforts to help the world’s super-rich conceal wealth and evade taxes. News outlets published the first stories on the documents in April.

The story of the massive leak will be chronicled in The Secrecy World, a forthcoming book by Jake Bernstein. Bernstein won a Pulitzer prize in 2011 for investigating the ways that Wall Street contributed to the country’s financial crisis in 2007 – 2008. He worked with The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on the Panama Papers leak.     

The Secrecy World will serve as the basis for Soderbergh’s movie. The veteran filmmaker will co-produce with Lawrence Grey (Grey Matter Productions) and Michael Sugar (Anonymous Content), with Scott Z. Burns coming on as screenwriter. Burns and Soderbergh have a longstanding working relationship: Burns wrote The Informant!, Contagion, and Side Effects, all of which were directed by Soderbergh.

At the moment, no director has been announced for the Panama Papers movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Soderbergh has “an eye” on that job as well. Though he took a hiatus from directing movies after 2013’s Side Effects, he subsequently helmed several projects for TV, including Behind the Candelabra and The Knick. He’s currently back in the director’s chair for a heist movie, Logan Lucky, featuring Channing Tatum, Daniel Craig, and Hilary Swank.