Armie Hammer · The Order · Authentic Wave
Plus: The bizarre true crime link to "Emancipation"
the true crime that's worth your time
“A guy who was essentially a hanger-on with a celebrity meets a mysterious, rich Malaysian and then is catapulted into the higher ranks of film production.” That’s just one of the fascinating quotes from “Corruption Scandals, Fugitives and On-Set Strife: How History Caught Up With ‘Emancipation’ Producer Joey McFarland,” a Hollywood Reporter longread on how both Emancipation — now known as the (per Deadline) “largest film festival acquisition deal in film history” — Wolf of Wall Street, Daddy’s Home and multiple other McFarland-backed films have notable ties to high-flying, alleged grifter Jho Low.
Low, the subject of headlines like Fortune’s 2022 report “Meet Jho Low, the fugitive 1MDB financier known as ‘The Asian Great Gatsby’ who paid Leonardo DiCaprio to be his friend,” describes himself on Instagram as a “global entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor.” The U.S. Department of Justice uses different terms for Low, asserting in 2018 that he conspired “to launder billions of dollars embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Malaysia’s investment development fund, and conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to various Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials.”
Since then, Low has been hit with other claims, including a Beverly Hills real estate scam and allegedly conspiring “with several individuals including Elliott Broidy, a former top fund-raiser for Mr Trump, to engage in undisclosed lobbying campaigns,” per the BBC. Last month, a thinly sourced report in The Edge Markets suggested that Chinese officials might be closing in on Low, pressuring the Malaysian government to “lock him up and keep him far away from any FBI agents still investigating the case.”
So, back to the movies: McFarland, who you might recall as the guy who was poor-tastedly waving around a photo of an enslaved man at the red carpet for Emancipation, was “extremely close” to Low, and while he hasn’t been charged with any crimes, his relationship with the wealthy now-fugitive is…let’s just say, worth some scrutiny. From THR:
Before meeting Low, McFarland had zero film credits to his name and had been working as a talent booker for Paris Hilton (whom the Malaysian had paid to attend his parties and had lavished with gifts). But it wasn’t too long before McFarland was co-founding Red Granite Productions with Low’s associate Riza Aziz in 2011 and producing the 2013 smash The Wolf of Wall Street, all with the backing of millions Low had allegedly stolen. Aziz, the stepson of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (now in prison for his part in the scandal), is currently being sued in his home country in relation to nearly $250 million that found its way into his Red Granite bank accounts (Aziz has denied the funds were linked to the corruption scandal).
McFarland’s red carpet comments to THR also suggest that his pursuit of 19th century prints coincided with the same time frame during which he used accounts linked to Low — subsequently found to have been filled with hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly stolen by the Malaysian — to fund splashy purchases of artwork and original movie posters, plus champagne-buying sprees at parties. In 2016, the Justice Department detailed McFarland’s spending in its record-breaking civil complaint that charged Red Granite with participating in an “international conspiracy to launder money” and which saw the Feds look to seize the rights to The Wolf of Wall Street and, later, both Dumb and Dumber To and Daddy’s Home, as part of its $1.6 billion forfeiture claim of assets.
In 2018 — the same year McFarland established McFarland Entertainment, which he used to produce Emancipation — Red Granite paid $60 million to settle its case with the Feds, while in 2019, McFarland voluntarily handed over nearly $14 million in company profits and gifts, including paintings by Basquiat and Ed Ruscha, and 16 movie posters, including one for Fritz Lang’s 1932 classic M, as well as several luxury watches.
The THR piece is extremely careful about how it lays out Low’s and McFarland’s relationship, and how and where Low’s money might have benefitted the beleaguered producer. You can hear the conference calls with the publication’s legal team in some of the edits, and I sure do wonder how hard reporter Alew Ritman and his editors had to fight to keep this line in: “There’s also absolutely no question that McFarland’s entire career was built on the back of Low’s alleged crimes.”
The true irony of a lot of this story is that most of Low’s allegedly criminal activities — including his ties to those McFarland-produced films — happened, made headlines (and a book, called Billion Dollar Whale) and were forgotten. In fact, Emancipation, THR, argues, was part of his plan to “break free from his scandal-tainted past and start fresh.” But then, this:
The response was swift, and prompted many to ask “who is this guy, and what’s his deal?” Enough people, in fact, that publications like THR started looking into his background, raising questions about exactly why — other than a seemingly infinite pot of money from unclear sources — this guy is in the business of making movies. After reading this lengthy and well-researched report, I have more questions than answers: and most of all, I wonder why Hollywood is so willing to hold its nose and accept a check, no questions seemingly asked. — EB
Media coverage on the emerging podcast scene is grim. “Where did all the new podcasts go?” asks Nieman Lab, citing a study that claims that “the number of new podcasts launched fell by nearly 80% between 2020 and 2022.” Meanwhile, “Spotify loses roughly 75% of its value as the company's podcast strategy backfires” reads a headline on its flat-lining revenue.
But, despite that, I’m seeing as many — maybe more — true crime podcast announcements, press releases, and tie-ins, and my Google alerts herald slews of new mom-and-pop true crime podcasts (which I’m defining as any show unrelated to a big studio) as well as boldfaced names who are getting behind the mic.
Another suggestion that true crime podcasting just might be doing OK, at least for now: the news that a couple folks with old-school true crime cred are getting into the game.
Former Investigation Discovery chief Kevin Bennett and “Anatomy of Murder” podcast co-host and producer Scott Weinberger are launching Authentic Wave, a new multi-media podcast venture focused on the true-crime genre.
The New York-based venture will develop and produce premium true-crime and mystery series with unique audio and video components available for distribution on multiple platforms, including original productions, co-produced, and re-versioned content.
According to Bennett, his partner and he are the reason we’re all here in the first place, saying “Scott and I worked to launch the true crime phenomenon on cable TV,” which, even if true, does pose the question why these one time innovators are getting on the podcast train at this late date.
There’s a lot of lingo and jargon in this thinly rewritten press release to digest, here’s some of it:
Weinberger says he and the former ID general manger also plan to utilize their respective TV experience to “step into a new sort of genre” with “vodcasting.” “Which really is sort of mixing the two: mixing television and podcasting, using music and video,” he added. “Without getting too specific on how we’re going to do that, it is something that we’re looking into and we’ve got some great collaborations planned with producers and partners on that. I think we’ll be able to really take some advanced steps within that genre.”
Oooook. And then this quote, which is marketingspeak to the max:
“The most important thing about our rollout is we want to make sure everything we launch has a full distribution, marketing push behind it … So that’s really our primary focus. Obviously, we’re very keyed in on the production side, too. We want these things to be done quickly and efficiently and, most importantly, be at the very high standard that we think this content should be at.”
No idea what I just read there. None.
Anyway, there’s no launch date for “Authentic Wave,” nor is there any clarity around its business model, with Bennett saying that “it depends on the project for sure, and the idea here is that there is absolutely going to be, for the vast majority of what we’re looking at, be an ad-supported version of that and perhaps a premium-tier subscription base, too, that listeners or viewers could get extra material, or hear uninterrupted by advertising.”
Sure, good luck I guess? — EB
Anyone here read The Silent Brotherhood? Published in 2018, Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s book about “America’s racist underground” feels even more timely now that so many of that movement’s voices are back on Twitter; you’ve probably heard Flynn on the Crime Writer’s On podcast or seen him as a pundit on the latest white supremacist assault on our democracy.
Now the book is getting a dramatic adaptation with a cast of fairly glossy stars: According to Deadline, Jude Law will play an 80s-era Idaho FBI agent chasing the head of a group of domestic terrorists (Nicholas Hoult). Because when you think Idaho and the Klan, you think Jude Law and the kid from About a Boy!
Here’s the description:
In 1983, a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations and armored car heists frightened communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. As baffled law enforcement agents scrambled for answers, a lone FBI agent (Law), stationed in the sleepy, picturesque town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, came to believe the crimes were not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals but a group of dangerous domestic terrorists, inspired by a radical, charismatic leader (Hoult), plotting a devastating war against the federal government of the United States.
Production begins this May, with Alberta, Canada standing in for various damp and tree-packed regions of the U.S. — EB
Has Armie Hammer crossed over from alleged rapist to confirmed shitty boyfriend yet? The actor and central figure in last year’s House of Hammer true crime series broke his silence over the weekend with a lengthy interview in Air Mail in which he denies the criminal allegations against him, admits to the unpleasant jerk claims, and says he contemplated suicide after folks who claim he hurt him spoke out.
The interview is subscription only, but is comprehensively reblogged by The Hollywood Reporter and others. Key points:
“his interest in BDSM and sexual power dynamics are the result of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a youth pastor who allegedly molested him when he was 13 years old.”
“Per Hammer, the sexual encounter [Efrosina Angelova] referred to as rape was a ‘scene’ they orchestrated in advance.”
“Hammer was then asked if he was ‘emotionally abusive’ to the women and the actor replied, ‘One million percent.”
After the news broke, Hammer “just walked out into the ocean and swam out as far as I could and hoped that either I drowned, or was hit by a boat, or eaten by a shark. Then I realized that my kids were still on shore, and that I couldn’t do that to my kids.”
It’s an interview that appears to be intended to help set Hammer up for a comeback. But I’m wondering, is that something we as an audience, or even Hollywood, needs so badly that it will look past the very significant questions that still remain about Hammer’s treatment of people? Angelova, for one, says we don’t, saying via Instagram Monday that the suicide claim, especially, was a story he’d told well before she made any allegations against him. Via Jezebel:
As Angelova pointed out in her Instagram stories, Hammer’s interview appears to take a page from the responses of many famous men accused of abuse before him—specifically, by framing themselves as the real victims while attempting to center the conversation around how abuse allegations have impacted them, rather than the experiences of the women alleging harm. All too often, famous men accused of abuse choose to speak publicly about their mental health struggles, substance use struggles, or past traumas only in the wake of allegations against them.
Speaking of painting himself as a victim, this is the Hammer quote I keep coming back to, again and again: “There are examples everywhere, Robert [Downey Jr.] being one of them, of people who went through those things and found redemption through a new path. And that, I feel like, is what’s missing in this cancel-culture, woke-mob business. The minute anyone does anything wrong, they’re thrown away. There’s no chance for rehabilitation.”
Using the language of the far right, and suggesting that “cancel culture” and the “woke mob” are somehow to blame for the public’s concern over allegations of rape — and his admitted abusiveness — don’t seem like the words of a person who is truly taking accountability for their actions, even if the most criminal of the claims against him were false.
And you know what? It’s Hammer who was originally cast opposite J-Lo in Shotgun Wedding, a surprisingly enjoyable action rom-com that dropped earlier this year. They replaced Hammer with Josh Duhamel and (though Duhamel is not without scandal, himself), I thought he did just fine. Perhaps every possible Hammer vehicle can look to Shotgun to see how well we might all do without him on our screens. — EB
Wednesday on Best Evidence: Ranking Ramirez joints
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