George Santos To Get Documentary Treatment From ‘Scammer Whisperer’ Producer of Fyre Festival Movie

Nathan Howard/Sipa USA via AP Images

As disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) put it himself, “People want the content,” and an upcoming documentary from the filmmaker of Fyre Fraud will see if that’s truly the case.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Jenner Furst, who made Amazon’s LuLaRich series about the leggings-based multilevel marketing scheme, but more famously Hulu’s Fyre Fraud, which put the spotlight on the man behind the Fyre Festival disaster Billy McFarland is taking on the Republican famous for becoming the sixth House Representative in history to be expelled.

According to the report, the Santos-focused documentary will be made in the same spirit as Fyre Fraud. Furst, who jokingly referred to himself as a “scammer whisperer” in the article, said this project will focus on a more empathetic way to tell the story of Santos, who created an entire public persona based on lies:

But the filmmaker hopes the project will bring some humanity to the story of Mr. Santos, whose sins, he said, pale in comparison to those corporate, governmental and social systems that shape our culture.

“I really focus more on the human side of the story,” Mr. Furst said, saying he would aim to understand Mr. Santos’s childhood, insecurities, heartbreaks and betrayals.

Furst, who won his Peabody for the more serious Time: The Kalief Browder Story, is keenly aware that Santos, while able to be brutally honest for fleeting moments, is a known fabulist. And that’s part of the appeal:

“There is the illusion that there’s good people and bad people,” he said in an interview. “Ultimately, there still is truth. And I am committed to truth. And somehow, as someone committed to truth in a post-truth era, I don’t think I can be as religiously attached to the existence of truth anymore.”

Indeed, Mr. Furst said, he is not concerned by the possibility that Mr. Santos might be less than truthful with him. “He could sit and tell me lies the entire time. Ultimately, based on my ability to bear out the truth around him, that … that becomes pure entertainment.”

The Times said that production has already started on the documentary, and that Santos will receive some compensation “in the form of an archival materials fee.”

Read the full article from The New York Times.