Fresh from promoting his take on the life of Argentine revolutionary Che Guevarra, Stephen Soderbergh has announced the addition of another biographical project to his swelling slate. The director has signed on for Making Jack Falcone, the true story of FBI agent Joaquin Garcia, who infiltrated and brought down the Gambino crime family in 2005.
While not scheduled to step behind the camera this time around, Soderbergh will produce and has enlisted his Che collaborator Peter Buchman to adapt the screenplay from Garcia’s novel. Agent infiltrates mob to bring it down? You may be thinking this sounds little more than just another Donnie Brasco but Garcia holds the distinction of being the first undercover agent to be offered a legitimate position as 'made man' within a crime family. Going by the moniker of ‘Big’ Jack Falcone, Garcia infiltrated the echelons of organised crime, survived a quarter of a million dollar bounty on his life and went on to see his former capo, Greg dePalma, go down for eight years.
Garcia himself was described as a born undercover operative, accounts able to slip into any number of aliases on demand, passing himself off as Sicillian, Cuban or any number of other nationalities at will. There is currently no word on who will direct but Soderbergh's next turn at the helm will be with The Informant, starring Matt Damon as the highest ranking whistle-blower in US history.