Actor and famous crypto critic Ben McKenzie is ready to make his directorial debut at SXSW London with the June premiere of his documentary, “Everybody Is Mendacity to You for Cash,” based on a report by Deadline.
The documentary follows McKenzie—finest recognized for roles on “The O.C.” and “Gotham”—as he investigates the cryptocurrency world and interviews key figures, together with throughout a visit to El Salvador to look at President Nayib Bukele’s regime, which made Bitcoin authorized tender in 2021.
“Once I began warning folks about crypto fraud within the fall of 2021, I caught a bunch of flak from the bros on-line,” McKenzie informed Deadline. “Now, a number of these guys are in jail, and sadly, hundreds of thousands of buyers misplaced their shirts to those conmen.”
“Everybody Is Mendacity to You for Cash” additionally options interviews with disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Celsius co-founder Alex Mashinsky. Each interviews had been filmed earlier than their firms collapsed out of business in July and November 2022, respectively.
McKenzie started exploring cryptocurrency in 2021, whereas the world was nonetheless grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, he has been a vocal critic, together with testifying earlier than the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on the collapse of FTX.
Launched in 2023, McKenzie’s guide with journalist Ben Silverman, “Simple Cash: Cryptocurrency, On line casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud,” explored lots of the similar themes that the documentary will contact on.
“Why is the false story of crypto nonetheless spreading? That’s the query I got down to reply with this movie,” McKenzie mentioned. “I can not watch for audiences to see ‘Everybody Is Mendacity to You for Cash,’ a comedy that treats crypto and the creeps shilling it with the respect they deserve: zero.”
McKenzie didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt‘s request for remark.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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