Jason Bateman To Direct FBI Surveillance Thriller ‘Dark Wire’ For Netflix, ‘Stranger Things’ Outfit 21 Laps & Aggregate Films

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EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a hot one. In a lucrative deal, Netflix has pre-emptively landed feature rights to upcoming book Dark Wire, which uncovers the true story of how the FBI launched a fake telecom company and became a phone service provider to some of the world’s most notorious gangs, culminating in the arrest of more than a thousand international criminals.

Ozark star and director Jason Bateman will direct the thriller, which will be produced by Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Dan Levine for Stranger Things outfit 21 Laps, and by Bateman and Michael Costigan for Aggregate Films (Game Night).

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Based on Vice Motherboard journalist Joseph Cox’s upcoming book, the story is being adapted for the screen by Matthew Orton (Operation Finale). Tracey Nyberg will be executive producer. Niija Kuykendall is creative lead on the project for Netflix, which has deals with both 21 Laps and Bateman’s Aggregate.

Ozark and Arrested Development star Bateman has previously directed features Bad Words and The Family Fang, and more recently won an Emmy for his directing on aforementioned hit series Ozark.

Aggregate most recently released the fifth season of Ozark for Netflix; Under the Banner of Heaven for FX; A Teacher, starring Kate Mara and Nick Robinson; and The Outsider on HBO, starring Ben Mendelson and Cynthia Erivo. Other upcoming projects include the Netflix romantic comedy Your Place or Mine, from writer-director Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada), which will star Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher; the Gia Coppola documentary entitled superfans: screaming. crying. throwing up., the Apple TV+ limited series Lessons in Chemistry, starring Brie Larson; the Peacock comedy thriller starring Kaley Cuoco Based On A True Story; and Netflix’s Florida Man series starring Edgar Ramirez. As an actor, Bateman just wrapped production on the Untitled Nike film directed by Ben Affleck and will next star with Taron Egerton in the film Carry-On, a thriller for Netflix and Amblin.

Coming up for 21 Laps are the final season of Stranger Things which follows a record-breaking fourth season that ranks #1 on the Netflix Most Popular TV list (English), the third season of Unsolved Mysteries, and the second season of Shadow and Bone. Rosaline for Hulu is in post-production along with The Boogeyman (based on Stephen King’s classic story) for 20th Century Studios. A sequel to Free Guy and Deadpool 3 are also in the works with Levy directing both.

Orton was most recently a writer and consulting producer on Marvel’s Moon Knight series, and as we revealed, the Brit scribe has been set by Warner Bros to pen the script for Chad Stahelski’s action-thriller Shibumi. Feature Operation Finale starred Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley.

Bateman is repped by CAA, Lighthouse Management + Media, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller (lawyer). Orton is repped by WME and and Grandview. Cox is repped by Grandview.

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