Three-time Academy Award nominee Johnny Depp is set to star in King of the Jungle, a dark comedy to be directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa from a script by Golden Globe and Emmy Award winners Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski that is based on a true story first published in Condé Nast’s Wired by Joshua Davis. The film is from Condé Nast Entertainment, Zaftig Films, MadRiver Pictures, and Epic Entertainment.
Based on the Wired magazine article John McAfee’s Last Stand by Joshua Davis, the film tells the wild true story of rogue tech magnate John McAfee, creator of the McAfee Antivirus software, who cashed-in his fortune, left civilization, and moved to the jungle in Belize. There, he set up a Colonel Kurtz-like compound of guns, sex and madness. In the film, a Wired magazine investigator accepts what he thinks is a run-of-the-mill assignment to interview McAfee, but once he arrives in Belize, he finds himself pulled into McAfee’s escalating paranoia, slippery reality, and murder.
Depp can be seen later this month in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and his upcoming films include Fox’s Murder on the Orient Express, and Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2.
The film will be produced by Condé Nast’s Dawn Ostroff and Jeremy Steckler; Zaftig’s Charlie Gogolak, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and Epic’s Joshua Davis. MadRiver’s Marc Butan and Epic’s Joshuah Bearman will executive produce.
IMR International is handling foreign sales at Cannes with CAA repping domestic rights.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
