Status: In Development

Producers: Mike Downey, Sam Taylor

Director: Julien Temple
Writer: Michael Kalesniko

Synopsis: The true life and crimes of Elmyr de Hory, the greatest art forger who ever lived. Having spent the roaring twenties in Montparnasse partying and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Gertrude Stein, Hemingway and Picasso, Elmyr’s funds begin to dwindle. Unable to make a living from his own work, he is down to his last franc when a wealthy friend mistakes a sketch of his for a real Picasso and simply must have it. It’s the easiest money he’s ever made. But selling is not Elmyr’s forte and so he teams up with Fernand, a fast-talking charmer and borderline psychotic and the beautiful but enigmatic Real, who becomes Elmyrs muse. The time has come for Elmyr and his dubious friends to become stupidly, fantastically rich. A true story of audacious con artistry and high stakes excess, FAKE! tracks Elmyr de Hory and his partners in crime from Paris to New York to Ibiza as this flamboyant Hungarian refugee dupes the art world into parting with hundreds of millions of dollars.


Based on the novel by Clifford Irving.