Zac Efron To Play Wired Magazine Investigator Ari Furman in "KING OF THE JUNGLE"

Zac Efron (The Greatest Showman) has signed on to star as Ari Furman in King of the Jungle, based on a true story published in Condé Nast's WIRED magazine by Joshua Davis. Principal photography is slated for early 2020.

Longtime writing and directing duo Glenn Ficarra ("This Is Us", Crazy, Stupid, Love, Bad Santa, I Love You Phillip Morris) and John Requa ("This Is Us", Crazy, Stupid, Love, Bad Santa, I Love You Phillip Morris) are on board to direct the script by Golden Globe® and Emmy® Award winning writing duo Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski ("American Crime Story", Dolemite Is My Name). Charlie Gogolak will produce.


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Casting for the role of John McAfee is currently underway.

The film is from Condé Nast Entertainment, Ficarra and Requa's Zaftig Films, MadRiver Pictures and Epic Entertainment.  STX Films is in negotiations for the domestic rights, with MadRiver International continuing sales at the AFM next week. 

Based on the WIRED magazine eBook "John McAfee's Last Stand," the film tells the wild true story of rogue tech magnate John McAfee, creator of the McAfee Antivirus software, who cashed-in his fortune, left civilization and moved to the jungle in Belize. 


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There, he set up a Colonel Kurtz-like compound of guns, sex and madness.  In the film, WIRED magazine investigator Ari Furman (Efron) accepts what he thinks is a run-of-the-mill assignment to interview McAfee, but once he arrives in Belize, he finds himself pulled into McAfee's escalating paranoia, slippery reality and murder. 

Efron recently starred in the Fox box office hit The Greatest Showman opposite Hugh Jackman and earned rave reviews for his portrayal of Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile for Netflix.   Efron will voice Fred Jones in Scoob, Warner Bros. feature-length animated film based on the popular "Scooby-Doo" cartoon.


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Efron is represented by CAA, Alchemy Entertainment and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson.

About MadRiver

MadRiver International is a partnership between Marc Butan's MadRiver Pictures and Vincent Maraval's Wild Bunch International.  Kim Fox oversees the Company's operations.   MadRiver International's primary focus is serving as sales agent on English language, mid and larger budgeted films for the international theatrical and streaming marketplace.


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The MadRiver slate includes: What Is Life Worth starring Michael Keaton and directed by Sara Colangelo which is currently in post-production; Tim Kirkby's Waldo starring Mel Gibson and Charlie Hunnam, also in post-production; Scott Z. Burns The Report starring Adam Driver, which Amazon is releasing on November 15th; and Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen which will be distributed by STX on January 24th.

Haute Tease