Veteran TV director Matt Shakman, who has helmed episodes of Game Of Thrones and Fargo, is in talks to direct the untitled Cambridge Analytica movie for Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo‘s company AGBO Films.
Endgame scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have written the script, and the project is financed and ready for production. David Gordon Green had been in talks to direct before opting to shoot back-to-back Halloween sequels for Blumhouse/Universal instead.
The film will revolve around Christopher Wylie, the pink-haired data consultant who hatched the idea for Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm that illegally harvested the personal data of 87 million Facebook users in order to influence the last presidential election and the Brexit vote.
As the project mutated into something bigger and far worse than Wylie originally envisioned, he became a whistleblower and told his story, both in court and in the press.
The article in The Guardian by Carole Cadwalladr was acquired by AGBO and serves as the catalyst for this project. Wylie’s book Mindf*ck is also fascinating and terrifying if you want a more in-depth look at how CA helped swing elections and shape our future.
This obviously marks a big departure for the Russos and their fellow Endgame collaborators, shifting from a gigantic superhero blockbuster to a story with huge real-world implications. The Russos especially seem to be deliberately shifting away from the MCU which has taken up much of their time in recent years, as they’re also prepping the adaptation of novel Cherry with Tom Holland.
Ironically, as the Russos step away from the MCU, Shakman is joining it. He’s directed all six episodes of WandaVision, which stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany and is expected to arrive on Disney+ in December. He previously made his feature directorial debut with 2014’s Cut Bank, which starred Liam Hemsworth and John Malkovich.
There’s no start date set for the Cambridge Analytica project since it’s unclear when Hollywood will resume production, so there’s no official casting yet, though reportedly several distributors have already expressed interest in the project. Considering the real-world implications, many actors will see this as an important and probably awards-worthy project, so expect plenty of big names jostling for major roles.
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