Todd Phillips has just about reached that “I can do whatever the f*ck I want” stage in his career [which, strangely, seems to involve banging lazy-eyed herp factory Paris Hilton -Vince], what with even his sequels raking in more than half a billion dollars, and now it looks like he’s found his next project in a Rolling Stone article. Phillips has optioned the rights to a Guy Lawson article (“The Stoner Arms Dealers”), about two potheads who somehow became weapons traffickers, thanks the government’s love of dishing out big bucks to small contractors.
Who knew it was that easy?
Story, which appeared in the March 31 issue of Rolling Stone, chronicled the tale of David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli, who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America’s allies in Afghanistan. The two made 85 deliveries of munitions to Afghanistan worth more than $66 million before their arms-dealing careers were cut short when federal agents raided their Miami Beach offices in Aug. 2007, culminating in 71 counts of fraud. (Variety)
The article is really interesting, as it paints the picture of two guys – a high school dropout and his buddy who took a few college classes – who somehow fell ass backwards into the worldwide arms dealing game. And all the while they were seemingly stoned out of their minds, despite other reports that they were actually quite intelligent.
Essentially, it reads like Lord of War if it had been packaged as a National Lampoon’s film. But Judging by the photo below of Packouz and Diveroli, Andy Samberg better clear his schedule.