Crazy Rich Asians producer, Michelle Yeoh team up for movie based on 1MDB tell-all book

SAN FRANCISCO — Crazy Rich Asians producer Ivanhoe Pictures has acquired film rights to best-selling book "Billion Dollar Whale", which details the massive scandal plaguing Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The agreement, announced on Thursday (Sept 27), will see SK Global teaming up with actress-producer Michelle Yeoh, who stars alongside Constance Wu and Henry Golding in the Hollywood box-office smash.

SK Global is the producer for Crazy Rich Asians, and has secured the film rights for Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood and the World, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Ivanhoe Pictures is its international label.

Screen Daily reported that the first-look deal includes producing, directing and choosing acting opportunities for Yeoh, in partnership with SK Global and her company, Mythical Films.

The book, written by Wall Street Journal (WSJ) journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, tells the story of Low Taek Jho, commonly referred to as Jho Low, who allegedly swindled billions of ringgit from Malaysian state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

It reportedly claims Low and his entourage spent US$85 million (S$116 million) in just eight months between October 2009 and June 2010 on gambling in Las Vegas, alcohol, private jets, renting luxury yachts, and paying Hollywood celebrities and Playmates to go out with them.

The book was released in Malaysia on Tuesday to much fanfare, with 200 hard-cover and paperback copies sold out at Suria KLCC's Kinokuniya bookstore.

"Tom and Bradley have crafted a thoroughly compelling telling of this unbelievable story," the Hollywood Reporter quoted SK Global president John Penotti as saying in a statement.

"While certainly a daring work of investigative journalism, the narrative thread and eclectic characters that they so diligently chronicle make the book read like a thrilling and engrossing novel.

"We are very proud to be associated with this project and anticipate moving forward very quickly to production," he added.

However, Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has poured scorn on the book, saying she was the one who first broke the 1MDB scandal and gave the WSJ reporters her contacts. AGENCIES