Carlos Ghosn Hires CAA Founder Michael Ovitz as His Agent

True crime television becomes a bit more ubiquitous

Carlos Ghosn
Carlos Ghosn in 2010.
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd

If you doubted that we’re living in the golden age of television and movies torn from the headlines, here’s yet another piece of evidence towards that conclusion. Carlos Ghosn, the former head of Nissan who took part in an ornate escape plan to exit the country, has hired an agent. More specifically, he’s hired Michael Ovitz, founder of Creative Artists Agency.

Lucas Shaw and Ania Nussbaum wrote about this unexpected alliance for Bloomberg. And they note that this high-profile partnership makes sense for Ghosn in multiple ways:

Ghosn’s story — which involves allegations of a high-level corporate coup and government collusion, followed by a dramatic extraction masterminded by a former Green Beret — has the makings of a compelling film or mini-series at a time when companies from Netflix Inc. to Amazon.com Inc. are hungry for fresh content.

Ovitz remains a formidable presence. In a 2018 interview with Rebecca Keegan for Vanity Fair, he stated that “[a]genting is a form of manipulation, of coercion.” That whole conversation takes some unexpected turns — not unlike, come to think of it, the story of Ovitz’s future client.

And speaking of questions of sleight of hand, of class conflict and of hiding out in unexpected places — following Oscar weekend, it’s also difficult not to see some surreal echoes of Ghosn’s story while watching Parasite. Given that the forthcoming TV series adaptation or continuation of the show is apparently seeking Mark Ruffalo to play the lead, it begs the question: is a Parasite: the Series/Untitled Carlos Ghosn Project crossover in the cards?

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