Dev Patel is preparing to take on yet another real-life character, this time telling the story of famed entrepreneur-turned-criminal Somen "Steve" Banerjee. The British actor is teaming up with director Craig Gillespie to tell the true story of Banerjee’s sordid rise in American history, which included creating the famous Chippendales brand.Efforts to bring Banerjee’s life story to the big screen have been in development for the past 20 years. Permut Presentations’ David Permut has been pushing the project along and will produce the film with Bold Films. Craig Williams has written the final script, which will be brought to life by Gillespie.The
Lars and the Real Girl and
Fright Night director is best known for his work on 2017’s
I, Tonya, which took home several acting awards for film leads Margot Robbie and Allison Janney. Gillespie also directed the upcoming live action Disney film
Cruella. Set to be released in 2021, the film stars Emma Stone as the famous Dalmatian-hating Cruella de Vil.The still untitled film will follow Banerjee, who was born in 1946 in Bombay and later immigrated to America. Frustrated with a low paying job at a Mobil gas station, Banerjee saved up enough money to buy a failing Los Angeles club named
Destiny II. The club included female mud wrestling and exotic dancing, but in 1979, Banerjee made his mark by introducing a male stripper dance troupe that was designed to bring in female customers. Banerjee partnered with attorney Bruce Nahin and Paul Snider to create the now world-famous Chippendales brand.Banerjee’s creation of Chippendales has a shockingly bloody and violent past. His business partner Paul Snider was married to Canadian-born Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, who designed the club’s iconic collar and cuffs uniform. In 1980, Snider killed his estranged 20-year-old wife before fatally shooting himself the same day.As for Banerjee, he was involved in several murder for hire plots, including an alleged plan to have Nahin killed. Banerjee was also charged with hiring hitmen to kill former Chippendales dancers and choreographers whom he believed were planning to open a rival club. In 1994, Banerjee took a plea deal after being charged with crimes like murder for hire, racketeering and arson. Banerjee was facing 26 years in prison when he was found having died by suicide in his jail cell.Banerjee’s life has previously been portrayed on the small screen in the 2000 made for TV movie
The Chippendales Murder, which starred Naveen Andrews.Patel was first linked to the film
back in 2017. Under the working title
I Am Chippendales, the film was initially set to star Ben Stiller opposite Patel as Nick De Noia, a former Chippendales choreographer that Banerjee had murdered. Stiller has since dropped out of the project to focus on directing, leaving the leading role open.Patel first rose to fame in his native U.K. playing awkward teen Anwar Kharral on the hit series
Skins. His big screen breakthrough came in 2008 with a starring role in
Slumdog Millionaire. Patel has gone on to bounce back and forth between film and TV, starring in
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel, as well as Aaron Sorkin’s
The Newsroom. Some of Patel’s best work has been in playing real characters, including mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan in the biopic
The Man Who Knew Infinity and author Saroo Brierley, whose quest to find his birth parents was chronicled in the 2016 film
Lion. For his role as Brierley, Patel was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA.[video_embed id='2054080']BEFORE YOU GO: Selfies reported as cause of this boat crash[/video_embed]
