The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned premium cable giant confirmed Monday that it has optioned the rights to author Mark Chiusano’s nonfiction book “The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos.”
Frank Rich, known for his work as an executive producer on the Emmy-winning TV satires “Veep” and “Succession,” is executive producing the film adaptation, but in a non-writing capacity, according to the company.
The studio has tapped “Bad Education” screenwriter Mike Makowsky to write and executive produce the picture.
HBO’s announcement comes less than a week after Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives, becoming the sixth lawmaker ever to be forced out of the legislative chamber.
The politician was ousted by his colleagues after a House Ethics Committee report determined that he had lied about his background, defrauded donors and used campaign money to fund an extravagant lifestyle that included Botox injections, personal travel and subscriptions on OnlyFans.
The ex-lawmaker has also been indicted on felony counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. He has denied wrongdoing and criticized the move to expel him before his case goes to trial.
Billed as a “forensic and darkly comic” dramatization of Santos’ bid for Congress, the HBO film will chronicle “the Gatsby-esque journey of a man from nowhere who exploited the system, waged war on truth and swindled one of the wealthiest districts in the country to achieve his American dream,” according to the project’s official logline.
This isn’t the first time Hollywood has mined Santos’ highly publicized saga for entertainment. The latest installment of “Saturday Night Live” opened with a humorous farewell to Santos — or rather, to cast member Bowen Yang’s beloved portrayal of him.
“This entire country has been bullying me just because I’m a proud, gay thief,” Yang’s Santos said during the sketch. “But what else is new? America hates to see a Latina queen winning.”
Times staff writer Erin B. Logan contributed to this report.