When he's not starring as a take-no-shit pencil pusher in George Clooney's SUBURBICON or a man looking to profit from the world's over-population crisis in Alexander Payne's DOWNSIZING, Matt Damon can be found either behind the camera or doling out dough to finance another Hollywood blockbuster. Most recently, THR has learned that Damon has optioned the book Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam. Matt will reportedly develop the film in addition to potentially taking on the lead role.
If he were to board the project as the film's lead, Damon would play John R. Brinkley, a con man who established a medical practice in Kansas in the 1920s where he introduced a preposterous surgical method using goat glands to reverse impotence in local farmers. Because people are idiots, Brinkley quickly became the richest and most famous surgeon in America.
As I'd said earlier, the film will be adapted from the 2008 novel Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock. The book is a work of non-fiction that continues to remain relevant in a time when false medical claims and miracle cures are still a thing. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Peter Popoff's Miracle Water! If you think I'm going to sprinkle that sewer water on my head in the hope that it brings me good fortune and vast amounts of wealth, you're just as insane as Joel Osteen! Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that Brian Koppelman and David Levien will adapt Brock's novel for the film.
I'm game for this. I've always been fascinated by the phenomenon in which people cling to false medical cures as a saving grace from their troubles. Don't get me wrong, if someone told me that they could cure Crohn's disease by having me subscribe to some weird and wild stuff, I'd consider it, but some of these "doctors" take advantage in ways that would find them disbarred faster than you can say the word "malpractice."
DOWNSIZING starring Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig and Christoph Waltz will arrive in theaters on December 22nd.