How a 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht (aka Dread Pirate Roberts) built an online illegal-drug marketplace called "The Silk Road" will soon be in motion picture.
Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison last year by Judge Katherine Forrest in New York after being handed five sentences: one for 20 years, one for 15 years, one for five and two for life. All are to be served concurrently with no chance of parole.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the true story project is based on a two-part Wired magazine article by Joshuah Bearman, was set up in 2013, with best-selling author Dennis Lehane taking the first crack at the screenplay.
Oscar-winning brothers
Oscar-winning Coen Brothers have been penned to write the screenplay for the film to be titled 'Dark Web' for Fox. The Chernin Entertainment-produced film was formerly titled Silk Road.
The Coen brothers won screenplay Oscars for “No Country for Old Men” and Fargo. Their involvement in the film about Ulbricht is considered a boost.
The writer-director-producer of Deep Web, a documentary about Ulbricht's case which made its world television premiere last year, Alex Winter, said the Silk Road founder isn't a "known entity" in the film, as little is known about him. The new project is expected to reveal more about Ulbricht.
Though details are still sketchy, whether the premise of depicting a true story of the life of Ulbricht will include the proposition of a US presidential candidate Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party who has indicated he might consider pardoning the Silk Road founder or the reported cases of theft by a former Secret Service agent of Bitcoin from the Silk Road during their investigation is not known yet.
Most of Ulbricht’s seized Bitcoin has been auctioned off with the recent being $16 mln worth of Bitcoin in Australia.