King of the Jungle, a film based on when John McAfee, 2016 candidate for the Libertarian party, fled to Belize to avoid his many lawsuits, will have Johnny Depp, star of Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lone Ranger and Public Enemies, playing the Antivirus tycoon.
The movie will follow the 2012 Wired article where Joshua Davis visited McAfee and investigated the accusations that he started a private army and was involved in the drug trade. According to the software inventor, the story was entirely a fabrication and Davis explains “By 2009 he had sold almost everything he owned—estates in Hawaii, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas as well as his 10-passenger plane—and moved into the jungle. He announced that he was searching for natural antibiotics in the rain forest and constructed a mysterious laboratory on his property.”
Belizean authorities arrested McAfee for allegedly being involved in the murder of his neighbor, who describes it as “They shot my dog in front of eyes, destroyed a half million dollars worth of my property, subjected me to indignities, and arrested me on false charges which were dropped a few hours later.”
The McAfee film will be directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Recqua, who are behind the Bad Santa series, Crazy, Stupid, Love, and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. It is being described as a dark comedy that explores the Libertarian’s paranoia and drug abuse.
The tech giant’s political career will unfortunately not be a part of the film, much to Austin Petersen’s disappointment: