Ben Stiller has been set to direct the true-life drama “Bag Man” at Focus Features and based on a Peabody-winning podcast by Rachel Maddow.
The story focuses on Nixon’s vice president Spiro T. Agnew who ran a bribery and extortion ring in office for years.
At the height of Watergate, when three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes, he called the investigation a ‘witch hunt’ and schemed to obstruct justice.
The podcast examined the attempts at a cover-up and the backroom deals that kept Agnew out of prison.
Adam Perlman wrote the script along with Stiller and Mike Yarvitz. Stiller, Yarvitz, Lorne Michaels and Josh McLaughlin produce whilst Maddow will be an executive producer.