Victorino Noval Productions unlocks secrets of Bernie Madoff’s predecessor, Charles Ponzi

Added by on March 6, 2012

Beverly Hills, Calif – Victorino Noval Productions announced today that they will move forward with his feature film project called, “Ponzi”, to be released in 2013 despite Milos Foreman entering the field with his own interpretation.

The film chronicles the exploits of Charles Ponzi who promised clients a 50% profit within 45 days, or 400% profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the United States as a form of arbitrage. His financial “take” took down five banks, losing approximately $20 million for his investors. History buffs should have been forewarned as his feat would later be topped by Bernie Madoff.

Noval states, “When Oscar winner Milos Forman announced last year that he too, was going to produce a movie about Charles Ponzi, Edward Bass and I had some trepidation about Executive producing and financing continuing. Milos, of course, was responsible for such great films as ‘ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST’ which was my favorite Jack Nicholson picture and ‘AMADEUS’. But after re-reading the script, I think we are going to have a very different take on Charles Ponzi. To my mind, Clint Eastwood’s take on J. EDGAR wasn’t substantive enough and was not really suited for Leo DiCaprio. We are not going to soft-peddle anything. What made J. Edgar so intriguing was that he was ruthless to homosexuals in policy, yet had a secret life in high heels and lingerie. Ponzi also had a secret life that will be revealed; we want to take the character all the way.”

Edward Bass, also producing, says, “With Ponzi, it’s not just about the crime or even the genius of the crime, it’s a character study. There are certain elements similar in the Madoff story. As an example, we know what Bernie Madoff did, but don’t know why. Did he feel remorse? How did it effect his family? What makes him interesting was in retrospect, he does not appear 100% evil, but colorful and probably delusional.

Bass continued, “It’s amazing to me, that today, 9 out of 10 people know what a Ponzi scheme is, but don’t realize there was Charles Ponzi. And furthermore, people have fallen for these same cons over and over.”

Victorino Noval Productions plans to produce twelve films in 2012, several in association with James Franco and NYU.