Matt Damon may play the role of fugitive billionaire commodities trader Marc Rich in the upcoming movie adaption of the non-fiction book 'The King of Oil.'
The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich focuses on the life of prominent financier and commodity trader. Rich became a billionaire in the 1970s and remained one of the most powerful oil tycoons of the century until his 1983 indictments in 65 criminal counts. The non-fiction book is penned by Daniel Ammann and reveals Rich's illegal dealings with foreign countries and how he never faced a judge or jury for his crimes.
Apart from his indictments, Rich is most famous for his pardon in 2000 by President Bill Clinton on his last day in office as POTUS.
According to Deadline, the movie adaptation of the celebrated book is produced at Universal Pictures with John Krasinski producing through his Sunday Night Productions. This will be the second collaboration between Damon and Krasinski, who previously worked together on 'Manchester by the Sea' and 'Promised Land.'
Damon's last film 'The Martian' won him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film was nominated for several awards including the Academy Award for Best Actor, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and the Critic's Choice Award for Best Actor in 2015.
Besides films, in other endeavors, the 47-year-old Damon is known for his non-profit initiative H2O Africa Foundation, which was later merged with WaterPartners to create Water.org in July 2009 to provide water and sanitation to villages. Along with other Hollywood A-list stars like George Clooney and Brad Pitt, Damon has also co-founded Not On Our Watch Project that focuses global attention to stop mass atrocities.
A few years ago, Damon even visited India to check on his Water.org projects in Pondicherry, Chennai, and Bangalore. Not only this, he even hailed Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar for working in films like 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha' that deals with open defecation.The Martian movie actor was quoted by Hindustan Times as responding:
"It's great to have stars like Akshay and films like Toilet: Ek Prem Katha spotlighting the open defecation crisis, as it helps to drive more awareness of not only the issues but also what can be done to tackle this and create change. Our organization, Water.org, is dedicated to ending open defecation globally."
Otherwise, the movie adptation of The King of Oil is still under the early stages of negotiation.
