DOUG LIMAN TO DIRECT "KILLING SATOSHI"

A Gripping New Action Thriller Based on the True Story of Bitcoin's Creator, Global Power, and the Greatest Cover-Up of Our Time

LOS ANGELES and LONDON, Sept. 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Edge of Tomorrow) is set to direct Killing Satoshi, an explosive conspiracy thriller that dares to try to uncover one of the most enduring mysteries of the 21st century: the secret identity of Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, and why uncovering his identity threatens the global power circle, and why they have done everything in their power to make sure he nor it ever surfaces. The film is written by Nick Schenk (Gran Torino, The Mule) and will star Academy Award® winner Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea, Oppenheimer) and Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island, Dumb Money).

Produced by an award-winning team of industry heavyweights, Killing Satoshi brings together Ryan Kavanaugh (The Social Network, Fighter, Fast and the Furious, Dear John, Limitless) whose films have collectively grossed over $17 billion worldwide and garnered 60 Academy Award® nominations and 8 wins, Lawrence Grey (Lights Out, Yes Day, Pain Hustlers), known for delivering studio films of exceptional quality, many of which have been inspired by true events, and Shane Valdez (American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, Masked Singer). Jared Underwood of Aperture Media Partners is executive producing.

The project was originally developed by Ryan Kavanaugh and is being fully financed through his production company Proxima film finance in conjunction with Aperture Media Partners. Principal photography begins in October in London with an expected 2026 release.

Killing Satoshi is being fully overseen by The Production Lens, a U.K. based new world production services company. Founded by Kavanaugh, Grey, and veteran producer Garret Grant (Matrix, Hairspray, Blue Beetle, Bedtime Stories), The Production Lens is a full-service, turnkey partner for studios and independents: coordinating worldwide vendors, integrating cutting-edge tools, and mastering the complexities of tax incentives along with the challenges of the crossover of technology and filmmaking.

For over a decade, "Satoshi Nakamoto" has been more myth than man - a pseudonym attached to the creation of Bitcoin, the digital currency that shook the foundation of global finance. To believers, Nakamoto is a hero who empowered individuals to take back control of money. To governments and the largest corporations, he is a destabilizing threat to trillion-dollar industries and the power structures that guard them.

Killing Satoshi asks the question the world's most powerful institutions never wanted raised: What if Satoshi Nakamoto is real - and what if someone tried to kill him and/or erase his identity to keep any Satoshi from ever coming public? The story weaves together political intrigue, high-tech espionage, and a race against time as forces across the globe - spanning governments, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley - conspire to silence the truth. With stakes that include control of global wealth, the future of personal data, and the battle between individual freedom and corporate dominance, the film exposes what may be the greatest cover-up of our era. Combining the relentless paranoia of Enemy of the State with the raw determination of Erin Brockovich, Killing Satoshi is a cat-and-mouse thriller rooted in real-world fears about who controls information, money, and power in the digital age.

Director Doug Liman said: "I love David and Goliath stories. Killing Satoshi follows unlikely antiheroes taking on the most powerful people on the planet in an epic battle that strikes at the core of what is money and who controls it. I'm so excited to be collaborating with Casey Affleck again opposite the incredible Pete Davidson."

"This is not just a movie about Bitcoin and its illusive and mysterious origins, but really about what it stands for and what it was to represent," said Kavanaugh. "We look at this film much the same way as we did with Social Network and its examination of Facebook - this should equally be a look into the world of what Bitcoin really is." 

Lawrence Grey added: "This movie is a visceral cautionary tale about extremely powerful and manipulative forces with the ability to create lasting imbalance for their benefit. At the intersection of technology and the financial market arose Bitcoin with a promise or democratizing and revolutionizing financial systems for the masses, yet this never happened – and our movie delves into the shadowy and candidly, terrifying, story of why. There's no filmmaker I'd rather have telling this story than Doug."

Doug Liman is represented by CAA and Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin. Casey Affleck is represented by Range Media Partners. Pete Davidson is represented by WME, Ayala Cohen Management and Granderson Des Rochers. Nick Schenk is represented by Independent Artists Group, Entertainment 360 and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Feldman, Rogal, Shikora & Clark. Lawrence Grey is represented by UTA and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Feldman, Rogal, Shikora & Clark. Ryan Kavanaugh is represented by Scott Edel at Loeb and Loeb.

SOURCE Killing Satoshi, LLC