At the start of the week, writer/director Adam McKay was taking out his latest project to studios. As the week ends he has a home for it and a title as well. Bad Blood, as the film will now be known as, will be financed by Legendary Pictures, who will distribute the film their deal with Universal.
According to Deadline, Legendary is paying around $3.5 million for McKay to write the project. The film itself is budgeted between $40 and $50 million. Reportedly, Legendary narrowly beat out Paramount for the film. Paramount was the distributor of McKay’s last film The Big Short, which won him the Best Adapted Screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards.
Jennifer Lawrence is already attached to star as Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the controversial blood-test company Theranos. Theranos is the startup that made a splash in 2003 when it claimed it had a blood testing method that would require only a small pinprick instead of a much larger full blood draw by injection. An excited Wall Street began throwing money at the company, leaving it with a valuation of $9 billion as recently as two years ago. However, investigations into the accuracy of the company’s claims – or rather, inaccuracy – has lead to the company’s fortune’s falling. Forbes now estimates the company’s worth at a mere $800 million, with Holmes’ own 50% stake in the company falling commensurately.
Over last weekend, McKay sent out information packages to detailing the Teranos story. By the time he was to ready to start pitching on Monday, several studios had already made offers. A total of ten studios were in the mix trying to acquire the project.
