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EXCLUSIVE: Ben Affleck, whose sophomore directing effort The Town has made him one of the hottest directors in town, has added another possible next directing project to his roster. 
And this one must be good, it’s #8 on the Black List. The project’s titled American Bullshit, an Eric Warren Singer-script. According to the Black List description, the drama’s described as “the true story of Abscam, the FBI’s 1980 undercover sting operation of Congress to root out corruption which was the brainchild of the world’s greatest con man.” American Bullshit is set up at Sony Pictures Entertainment with Charles Roven and Richard Suckle producing through Atlas Entertainment. Affleck hasn’t committed, but is seriously mulling this among several projects that include The Trade, the Dave Mandel-scripted film based on the 70s wife swap of New York Yankees pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich; and Replay, a Jason Smilovic-scripted adaptation of a Ken Grimwood novel about a 43-year old radio journalist who dies, wakes up in his 18-year old body, and gets to relive his life over and over. The latter two projects are at Warner Bros, were Affleck and Matt Damon have their first look deal. Affleck’s repped by WME.
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This is pure Bullsh*t! Sad though… Pen & Teller should sue Affleck over this Bullsh*t! When will Ben will be forced to direct some straight to video cr*p… Like “Nancy Pelosi Goes To Washington” or “Mullet the Story of Billy Ray Cyrus”.
After his incredible work on THE TOWN — this would be a solid follow-up for Affleck! He’s a smart boy is he goes for it. Eric Singer is a rock-star screenwriter who deserves his dues: the man can WRITE like nobody’s business!
I am looking forward to seeing more from Ben Affleck.
J
B
How many times does this relieve my life story get made!! Dont squander 18 months of your life….Boring
Abscam was such a great headline and then a great story.
Do it-dont be talked out of it.
“a Jason Smilovic-scripted adaptation of a Ken Grimwood novel about a 43-year old radio journalist who dies, wakes up in his 18-year old body, and gets to relive his life over and over.”
BTD
Jeremy Renner saved Affleck’s ass on “The Town”, an otherwise made-for-video outing.
“an otherwise made-for-video outing.”
Thank you Jiminy, I thought I was the only one who thought THE TOWN was extremely overrated.
Yeah guys. 10 people thought that. You are 2 of them!
I’ve always liked Ben and I’m glad he’s not H’wood’s punching bag anymore.
GreaT! I say go fir it, Ben! Unlike the other two ideas, I wOuld be very excited to see this one!
the Town was highly over-rated. It was deemed a big success, simply because an actor directed it and everyone was surprised it didn’t suck.
As for gone baby gone, it was just mystic river light.
My personal belief is that The Town was the straight-to-DVD Walmart version of The Departed, although I have nothing but respect for everyone who was involved in making it.
He is really one of the hottest. I guess the movie will be one of the hit since it is based on a true life story.
The Town was a solid heist film. American BS sounds great though, hope Affleck takes the job
I’m a huge fan of Jon Hamm, but really didn’t get the praise for The Town. Despite some good performances it was hugely derivative and insubstancial. I barely remembered it a day later.
Having read both scripts, and having nothing to do with either – REPLAY is by far more intriguing.
Both Replay and The Trade sound far more interesting than an ABSCAM con man. My friend read Replay said it’s great, but that Ben wasn’t the ideal choice.
Was very hard for me to take “The Town” seriously after the scene where Affleck’s character goes to the AA meeting. Oh, he’s an alcoholic — he’s a really deep character. Get it? Too bad it had no connection in any way to the rest of the story. Just a lazy attempt to add depth to a character that had none.
Don’t get me started on what that scene with Chris Cooper was doing in the movie. Bad Storytelling 101. There’s nothing wrong with trying to “elevate” genre material, but the way this movie tried to do it was lazy and cheap.
Don’t get me started on John Hamm’s FBI agent — to say he was a cardboard character straight out of central casting is an insult to central casting. And the ending? Wow. Lost whatever credibility the movie had left.
This movie had some decent atmosphere, a decent performance from Affleck, and very strong performances from Rebecca Hall and Renner going for it — otherwise there wasn’t much to see here. Very middling stuff. Shocked it’s making Affleck one of the hottest directors in town.
there’s a better abscam script out there, KINGS OF CAMDEN. smarter by a mile.
I completely agree. If it weren’t for Renner, the whole thing would have been a flop.
Replay is a really good script. And I hate stories about people reliving their lives. This one is amazing. I can’t believe this guy would let it slip through his fingers. Matt Damon should do it, with Clint Eastwood directing. Congratulations on american bullshit Ben. I’m thinking it’s a subject you know a lot about –
This Abscam movie was supposed to be a Belushi/Akyroyd vehicle back in ’81 directed by Louis Malle. (sorry if anyone already said this). Strangely, I just watched “Stick” with Burt Reynolds and Candice Bergen. After, I was researching Bergen because I always liked her, and she was interviewed in ’81 and was married to Malle. She mentioned his next project was supposed to be a project with the two. Of course I had to research that and find out what it might have been. It was supposed to be about Abscam. Abscam led to this title, “American Bullshit”. It’s the same project Malle was going to direct until we lost John, I’m sure of it. And thankfully I’m not the only one that felt “The Town” was not incredible, as I was told. Renner was, however.
P.S. If he does do this, he best have a good cast.
I hope he does the film. I also hope the screenplay catches the sociopathic personalities of the agents and their middlemen. My 3rd hope – if Richard Kelly is portrayed, make it real. He should be exonerated as he really WAS investigating these men who tried to bribe him EIGHT times before he took the money.