It’s no secret that Freakonomics was a wildly successful book – NY Times Bestseller, follow-up Superfreakonomics and even a great podcast series I often listen to Freakonomics Radio. So it’s no surprise that it caught the attention of Paris Je T’aime producer Chad Troutwine. In fact, it got him so interested, that he’d spent a year stalking the authors, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, so they could work together on bringing the world Freakonomics the Documentary.
With a $3 million budget, the film’s roped in some of the biggest directors in the documentary world to work on the various segments. Names like Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp) and Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) will each take on 15-minute segments to tackle the book’s various chapters.
Now just over 2.5 years since the idea was first announced, those of us eager to see it will finally get to as it’ll be the big closing night film at the Tribeca Film Festival come May 2nd. With Magnolia Pictures, which distributed hits like Man on Wire and Food, Inc., already set to distribute Freakonomics the Documentary, I smell another smashing success coming soon.
Shuling Yong 