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Everything We Know So Far About The Panama Papers Blockbuster Staring A-Listers Meryl Streep And Antonio Banderas

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On the 1st of September the highly anticipated film ‘The Laundromat’, starring Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman, will receive its world premiere at the 76th Venice Film Festival.

The movie will deal with the global scandal behind the Panama Papers and the main players involved in these off-shore leaks; Jürgen Mossack (Oldman) and Ramón Fonseca (Banderas).

Since being announced back in May 2018, more details about the film have been announced

Based roughly on the non-fictional book by ICIJ head reporter Jake Bernstein, ‘The Laundromat’ will follow Ellen Martin (Streep); a widow vacationing in Panama City who somehow finds herself investigating an insurance fraud, tracing worldwide leads to the mysterious Panama City-based financial network of lawyers Mossack and Fonseca.

Streep’s character is a fictional one, with Oldman and Banderas being the only actors in the film to portray real-life figures. However, Streep’s character is based highly on Bernstein’s experience when investigating the off-shore accounts between 2015 and 2017, resulting in what we now know as the Panama Papers.

His book (Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite) details his time as a lead reporter on the project and the aftermath. Secrecy World does make reference to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, as well as her son Matthew who is a staff member at ICIJ, however it is unlikely that Caruana Galizia will be mentioned in the film.

Meryl Streep has previously paid tribute to Daphne Caruana Galizia

Speaking in an open letter to PORTER magazine, stating;

“Bravery is terrifying and actual, bravado is a parade. We see enough examples of braggadocio and bravado strutting around on the public stage. True bravery is Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, blown up in her car for reporting on the Panama Papers. I applaud and revere our female journalists — I love them, and their equally undaunted brothers.”

Streep had also previously referred to Caruana Galizia when speaking at the yearly award ceremony of the Committee to Protect Journalists, introduced by Christiane Amanpour of CNN.

‘The Laundromat’ is being directed and produced for Netflix by the award-winning Steven Soderbergh

Soderbergh is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is considered one of the founding pioneers of the independent cinema movement and among the most acclaimed and prolific filmmakers of his generation. He is well-known for his work on the Ocean’s trilogy, as well as some more obscure films such as Traffic, Contagion and Side Effects.

The screenplay for The Laundromat is being written by Scott Z. Burns, who has previously worked alongside Soderbergh on the films Contagion and Side Effects.

The Netflix release date has yet to be announced

But the film will be premiering at several festivals starting from September, with it’s world debut being screened on the 1st of September at 19:30. The run-time is said to be rough 95 minutes, and has been given an age certification of R for violence, language and sexuality.

Other actors appearing in the film include David Schwimmer, Alex Pettyfer, Sharon Stone and Melissa Rauch. More information and a trailer will likely be released following the film’s premiere.

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