Danny Devito Directing ‘Crazy Eddie’

Danny Devito is set to direct ‘Crazy Eddie’, a film based on the life of  consumer electronics king Eddie Antar.   Peter Steinfeld (’21’) is writing the screenplay.

Eddie Antar  launched the successful Crazy Eddie  chain in 1971 but wound up serving six years in prison for fraud.   He  was a pioneer in discount consumer electronics, and Crazy Eddie’s grew to 43 stores, fueled by TV ads in which a frenzied pitchman promised prices that were “In-sa-a-a-a-a-ane!” Antar took the company public and briefly became a Wall Street  sensation.

He’d been skimming money and falsifying inventory to inflate stock value. Losing control of his company in a hostile takeover, Antar went on the lam after the new owners uncovered his financial shenanigans and the SEC charged him with stock fraud. He fled to Israel — where he’d deposited millions of dollars — only to be extradited three years later. He ultimately served a prison term that ended in 1999 and was ordered to pay $150 million in fines.

“He started as a guy who loved making deals more than money,” DeVito said.

“He lived an outrageously spectacular life and suffered an outrageously spectacular fall,” Steinfeld said.

Devito last directed the 2003 comedy ‘Duplicity’. Â  Say what you will about that.

Source: Variety