Robert Downey Jr.. is set to star in a Richard Linklater movie about a real-life con man.
The Iron Man star and Boyhood director are teaming up for an untitled film based on Man of the People, an episode of Gimlet Media’s Reply All podcast, according to Deadline.
The podcast recounts the true story of Dr. John Brinkley, who scammed his way to fame and fortune in the 1920s and 1930s using fake medicine, populism, and the emerging technology of radio.
His antics eventually attracted the attention of Dr. Morris Fishbein, the editor of the journal of the America Medical Association, who went on a decade-long mission to take Dr. Brinkley down.
In addition to appearing in the film, the 51-year-old and his wife Susan Downey will act as producers on the flick under their Team Downey banner, while Megan Ellison will produce for Annapurna Pictures.
Linklater will co-produce through his Detour Film production company with Gimlet Media’s PJ Vogt, Tim Howard and Chris Giliberti.
Downey and Linklater evidently moved fast on the film, as the Reply All podcast, which tells stories about how people shape technology, only aired Man of the People on 19 January (17).
Annapurna is also developing Linklater’s adaptation of Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette, as well as Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s Untitled Detroit Project.
Meanwhile, Downey will next be seen reprising his role of Tony Stark in Spider-Man: Homecoming. As well as beginning production on Avengers: Infinity War, he is also scheduled to star in an upcoming Pinocchio film.
Downey and Linklater previously collaborated on the animated project A Scanner Darkly in 2006.
