The owner of a Singapore company making skincare products says he was persuaded by Edmund Druilhet, an independent U.S. film producer, to invest $200,000 in a movie about confessed Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff -- more than 20 percent of the film's entire budget. Eddy Syahputra told the Asian website mysinchew.com that in return for his investment, Druilhet gave him and his wife roles in the film and featured his skincare line. "Putting my products in the movie was an incentive," he said. "Being an actor was also new and interesting. I have had a desire to be an actor but I never pursued it." The Indonesian-born Syahputra said that the $200,000 he invested in the movie, titled Made Off with America, represented his savings. "It is a high-risk investment, but when there is a high risk, there is a high return." Little is known about the status of the film, although a trailer has been posted on the film's website, madoffwithamerica.com. In an interview posted on YouTube, Druilhet rants against "scumdog Ponzi-aire" Madoff, suggests that Michael Moore is part of a government coverup conspiracy, and denounces authorities for allowing "10 million fugitives" to go free. (He's also making a movie about fugitive director Roman Polanski.) New York University film professor Gillian Gordon, currently a visiting professor at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in Singapore, expressed skepticism about the Madoff film project. In a production costing just $1 million, ""How will you have the helicopters, the furs and the house in the Hamptons in the movie?" she asks.
11/11/2009
