We’ve had movies about games, games about movies, and now we’re getting a movie about the place where you rented those games. Kind of. Craig Gillespie, director of Disney’s Cruella and Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, has been tapped to helm a new MGM feature about last year’s jaw-dropping GameStop stock price incident, in which a handful of online investors (and a fair share of gamers, and, well, online trolls) drove the market price of the brick-and-mortar video game outlet through the roof, causing some to claim the price had been artificially manipulated.
Given that his last two movies were about an infamous sex tape scandal and an imaginary fashion designer who favors puppy skin coats, the new project’s parameters seem like they may be squarely in Gillespie’s wheelhouse.
According to Deadline, the new film, entitled The Antisocial Network, will follow the chaos that ensued after a group of Redditors drove the price of GameStop stock into the stratosphere, making it the first so-called “meme-stock.” The rise in price attracted an immense amount of media coverage — not to mention the outrage of many traditional investors — before the stock tumbled back down to earth a few days later. MGM landed the rights to the film, which is based on a book proposal of the same name by author Ben Mezrich, just weeks after the in real-life events played out. Mezrich is the author of The Social Network, which was adapted into the Oscar-winning movie of the same name by MGM’s Michael De Luca. This project will reunite De Luca and Mezrich in hopes of striking gold anew.
Gillespie is no stranger to putting his own successful stamp on projects ripped from the headlines. In addition to Hulu’s well-regarded Pam & Tommy miniseries, Gillespie won his own share of Oscar gold with I, Tonya, which recounted the story of Olympic skater Tonya Harding, and brought home a Best Supporting Actress award for Allison Janney, who portrayed the skater’s mother on screen.
Orange Is the New Black writers Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo will handle the screenplay. In addition to De Luca, Aaron Ryder of Ryder Picture Company will produce. Kevin Ulrich, Gillespie, Mezrich, and Tyler Winklevoss will executive produce. The project is expected to begin production in the fall.