Robert Downey Jr. & Richard Linklater Team For Real-Life Con Man Tale

Richard Linklater went from the Oscar-winning triumph of Boyhood to a ho-hum reception for Everybody Wants Some!!, his spiritual successor to his breakthrough Dazed & Confused. Now he’s putting together something rather different to both those movies, as it’s been announced he’s teaming with Robert Downey Jr. for a real-life con man tale.

The movie will be based around an episode of the Reply All podcast titled ‘Man of the People’, which ‘tells the true story of charlatan Dr. John Brinkley who scams his way to fame and fortune using fake medicine, populism, and the newest technology of the time: radio. As Brinkley’s fame grows, he gets the attention of Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the AMA who begins a decade long quest to take him down. REPLY ALL, a show that features stories about how people shape technology, and how technology shapes people, aired “Man of the People” on January 19, 2017.’

It sounds like a good fit for the duo, with Downey Jr. set to play Brinkley, while his nemesis is yet to be cast. Megan Ellison‘s Annapurna Pictures is producing the movie, which as-yet doesn’t have a title.