Most people were introduced to Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss ten years ago in David Fincher’s movie The Social Network, which told the story of the founding of Facebook. The “Winklevii,” as Mark Zuckerberg famously referred to them in the movie, went to Harvard with Zuckerberg, and later sued him, claiming he had stolen the idea of Facebook from them.
In the years since Armie Hammer played both of them in the movie, the Winklevoss brothers have pursued various other business ventures, under a company called Casterlirock Holdings- which, considering Jamie and Cersei Lannister were raised in a castle called Casterly Rock, is something of a curious choice for a pair of twins. Cameron and Tyler are said to have made a killing in the bitcoin market.
Now, they’re getting their own movie. According to Deadline, the Winklevii have teamed up with Stampede Ventures to produce a film about their Bitcoin adventures. The movie is based on The Bitcoin Billionaires, a bestselling nonfiction book by Ben Mezrich – the same writer whose book, The Accidental Billionaires, was the basis for The Social Network.
Mezrich has since joined the writing staff of Billions, and this year was the credited writer for the episode in which the son of Bobby Axelrod (Damien Lewis) causes a blackout at his boarding school while carrying out an ill-advised cryptocurrency mining scheme.
There’s no word on a director, and on whether Hammer will be returning to play the Winklevii, or if a different actor (or actors) will be cast to play them. There’s also no indication that Social Network screenwriter Aaron Sorkin – who put memorable phrases like “we’re gentlemen of Harvard” and “I’m 6’5″, 220 and there’s two of me” in their mouths – will be taking part in the new project.
The book is being positioned as a “redemption story,” after the Winklevosses settled with Zuckerberg for a reported $65 million, and sought a career in venture capital.
The movie will face a couple of big challenges: How to make these muscular, capitalistic ubermenschen appear compelling and sympathetic, at a time when there’s much less public trust in Silicon Valley than there was at the time that The Social Network was made. Also, Bitcoin is incredibly complicated, and the filmmakers are going to have to find an easy way to explain how it works.
