Thursday, April 18, 2024

Murder, Mayhem, Movies: Ansel Elgort Circling “Billionaire Boys Club” Remake

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Everything old is new again! Now I hear that teen heart throb Ansel Elgort, fresh from “Fault in Our Stars,” “Divergent,” and so on, is circling a remake of the 1987 “Billionaire Boys Club.”

This is not to be confused with Pharrell Williams’s line of hoodies and caps that bear the same name. Somehow the “Billionaire Boys Club” over the years has become a fun reference.

But the real “BBC” was a real story about a bunch of sinister young Wall Street type white collar guys who participated in a Ponzi scheme in the early 80s. It ended in the murders of two people.

Elgort would play Joe Hunt, the leader of the group. He went to jail in 1987 for the murder of Ron Levin, a con man who swindled the BBC out of millions. Hunt represented himself, which is pretty unusual in itself. He’s been trying to get out of jail ever since, and even wrote a book out it. Hunt (real name Joseph Gamsky) is considered either a psychopath or a sociopath, depending on your view. There’s a good story about him and the BBC here.

The original “BBC” film was a TV movie. (The Menendez brothers said it inspired them to kill their parents, btw.) Judd Nelson played Hunt, and he was pretty good. But so much has happened, and Hunt is still in the news. Elgort, if played right, could really jump ahead in his career with this project. This is really like a young “Wolf of Wall Street” with very dark twist or two.

Stay tuned…

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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