Rachel Maddow is getting into the feature documentary business.
The MSNBC host has produced her first feature-length doc through her production banner Surprise Inside, with the cable channel acquiring the project. MSNBC will debut the film next month.
The film, From Russia With Lev, chronicles the scheme that led to former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. “It follows the much, much larger-than-life journey of Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-born hustler and former small-time mafia operator whose random, almost accidental association with Trump and Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani took him around the world, and ultimately to prison,” per the logline.
The film will have its world premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which is playing host to MSNBC’s Democracy 2024 event on Sept. 7. The premiere is one of the signature pieces of the event.
Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami) directed the film, with Maddow serving as EP. The film was also produced in partnership with rakontur and Universal Television Alternative Studio.
“There should be more documentaries from an insider’s perspective about the Trump presidency. There should be a Mike Pence documentary. There should be a John Kelly documentary, or a Rex Tillerson documentary. But it takes someone like Lev Parnas to be brave enough to speak up first,” says Maddow. “Lev’s story is un-put-down-able.”
“Lev Parnas’s story is like Tom Clancy if Jack Ryan was played by Jackie Mason,” adds Corben. “This film is a continuation of rakontur’s signature subgenre of ‘Florida Men Behaving Badly with World-Changing Geopolitical Stakes.’”
From Russia With Lev continues Maddow’s run as a multi-platform star for MSNBC.
Maddow of course hosts her eponymous show on Monday nights, and appears regularly to cover major news events. She also, however, hosts and produces a number of podcasts for the company, including Déjà News, Ultra, and Bag Man. In addition, both Bag Man and Ultra are being developed for film adaptations, by Steven Spielberg and Ben Stiller, respectively.
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