from www.pastemagazine.com – Action director Tony Scott (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Man on Fire) has signed on to make a biopic about Chippendales founder Somen “Steve” Banerjee, who ran afoul of the law in the 1980’s and hung himself in his prison cell in 1994.

Scott is known for his dramatic thrillers and violent psychological sketches of (often male) characters. And though the over-the-top ‘80s decadence of Chippendales seems ripe for parody, Banerjee’s tragic story suits Scott’s serious cinematic style.

Banerjee was a Bengali-born American entrepreneur who ran a Culver City, Calif. gas station before he bought an L.A. club and turned it into the first strip club featuring female mud wrestling. Expanding his exotic dancing empire in the ‘80s, he soon found business partners and created Chippendales shows and clubs in New York, London, Germany and Asia. But Banerjee’s paranoia was his downfall. He attempted to burn down two rival nightclubs and was ultimately arrested for hiring a hit man to kill a former business partner and two Chippendales dancers. He was found dead in his prison cell in October 1994, on the eve of his sentencing.

Scott’s untitled biopic is being written by up-and-coming screenwriter Lisa Schrager and financed by a private equity firm out of India. Scott and his Scott Free Productions will co-produce with David Permut (Youth in Revolt).