The six-part series will be based on 'Dirty Tricks' by investigative journalist Martyn Gregory which chronicles a massive scandal in the early '90s in which British Airways attempted to ruin Virgin Atlantic.
- Jul 16, 2022
AceShowbiz - Andrew Garfield is stepping into a billionaire's shoes for a new series. The "Under the Banner of Heaven" star has been tapped to play billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson on a new limited series titled "Hot Air".
According to Deadline, the upcoming project is a six-part series which will be based on the book "Dirty Tricks" by investigative journalist Martyn Gregory. The book chronicles a massive scandal in the early '90s in which British Airways attempted to ruin Virgin Atlantic.
In order to take down its rival, British Airways hacked into the enemy's computers, pretended to be Virgin employees and tried to gain personal information from staff. The scandal led to a lawsuit, which eventually ended in British Airways paying Virgin Atlantic almost £3 million in damages. In 1999, Richard sold a 49% stake in Virgin Airways to Singapore Airlines, a sale valued at more than $1.4 billion.
More recently, the billionaire made headlines after becoming the first billionaire to travel to space. The 70-year-old launched the Unity 22 mission on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity in July as he planned to start commercial flights with paying customers later in 2022.
For the upcoming series, "Deadpool 2" director David Leitch, who is also known for his movies such as "Atomic Blonde" and "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw", will serve behind the lens based on script from Jon Croker. Croker and Garfield additionally will executive produce with 87North, Two&Two and StoryFirst. It has been reported that multiple platforms are in the running to acquire the series.
The new gig arrives after Garfield was recently nominated for an Emmy award. Thanks to his performance on FX's "Under the Banner of Heaven", the "Tick, Tick...Boom!" actor is up for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie against Colin Firth ("The Staircase"), Oscar Isaac ("Scenes From a Marriage"), Michael Keaton ("Dopesick"), Himesh Patel ("Station Eleven") and Sebastian Stan ("Pam & Tommy").
