Robert De Niro is to play convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff in the first major film about the one of the biggest scams in US history.
Madoff was arrested in 2008 after it emerged he had swindled investors out of an estimated $50bn with a Ponzi scheme.
The HBO film will be based on the recently published book Truth and Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family.
Written by by Laurie Sandell, it describes the aftermath of Madoff’s arrest in 2008.
The author wrote it with the co-operation of Madoff’s son, Andrew, and other family members.
She reveals how the fraudster, along with his wife, Ruth, attempted to commit suicide as the enormity of his deception became clear.
Madoff was jailed for 150 years in June 2009 and has been disowned by his family.
His eldest son, Mark, took his own life in December 2010 because he could not live with the shame of the misery his father had caused to thousands of investors.
De Niro is also producing the film with his partner Jane Rosenthal, from his company Tribeca Productions.
