Curtis Hanson is a fascinating director, who’s moved through noir (LA Confidential), dramedy (Wonder Boys), rap battles (8 Mile), chick flicks (In Her Shoes), and is planning to take on surfing with Mavericks. Now it appears he’s got another project up his sleeve, based on the rather fascinating tale of Bill Anthony Jakob.
This unusual but rather intriguing character arrived in the small Missouri town of Gerald in the summer of 2008 saying he was a federal agent who was part of a ‘multi-juridictional task force’. He then convinced officials he could use the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Dept. to crack down on drug dealers, and then set about doing so, raiding meth labs and arresting scores of offender.
There was a bit of a problem though, he wasn’t a federal agent at all, and Jacob was really just a 36-year-old bank security guard. His ruse was only uncovered after a journalist writing about the new hero did an internet search.
After Jakob was indicted on a 23-count federal indictment for impersonating a law enforcement officer, he optioned his life rights to producers John Davis, Dan Spilo and David Klawans. Their original intention was to turn it into a comedy about a man who tries to do good by doing something wrong, however Deadline reports that it appears that with the hiring of Clark Gregg (Choke) to write the screenplay, and getting Curtis Hanson attached as director, they may be taking things in a slightly more serious direction. It could certainly make an interesting dramedy, exploring whether what Jakob did was wrong, or if he was merely trying to get the authorities to do what they seemed to be unwilling to take on otherwise.