Bernard Madoff

Oscar winners take on scammer Madoff in two TV films

Bill Keveney

USA TODAY

Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner play Bernard and Ruth Madoff in ABC's four-hour miniseries 'Madoff.'

Bernard Madoff went big in fleecing billions of dollars from clients. TV is reflecting the enormity of what's considered the most colossal investor scam in U.S. history with two high-profile projects, each featuring an Oscar winner playing the now-imprisoned New York financial adviser.

Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer play Bernard and Ruth Madoff in HBO's 'The Wizard of Lies.'

Here's a breakdown:

The movies:

ABC's Madoff, a four-hour miniseries (Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. ET/PT). ABC News will present Madoff: After the Fall when the miniseries concludes (Thursday, 10 p.m. ET/PT).

HBO Film's The Wizard of Lies (2017)

The story:

Each production will look at Madoff, a rich, respected financial adviser and patriarch who deceived clients for years, using the deposits of one to cover withdrawals to another, before his massive Ponzi scheme unraveled during the financial collapse of 2008. Madoff, 77, is now serving a 100-year-plus prison sentence.

Before Dreyfuss took the role, he had no empathy toward Madoff. "Then, we started it. I thought, 'Well, I can understand having empathy and wanting him to have certain characteristics and attributes.' Then, I dove further and realized my first instincts were correct, that he was a person who didn't deserve empathy," he says.

For an actor, however, "He was intriguing and fascinating. People like that are few and far between in our century. Villains don't have those opportunities anymore," he says. "He was my Genghis Khan."

Richard Dreyfuss, left, and Peter Scolari play brothers Bernard and Peter Madoff in the ABC miniseries 'Madoff.'

The players:

In Madoff, Blythe Danner plays Madoff's wife, Ruth. Peter Scolari plays Madoff's brother, Peter; Michael Rispoli is Frank DiPascali, an employee who oversees the scam's operation; and Frank Whaley portrays a fraud expert who suspects Madoff for years. Raymond De Felitta directs.

Robert De Niro plays Madoff in The Wizard of Lies, with Michelle Pfeiffer as Ruth. Hank Azaria plays Frank, with Alessandro Nivola and Nathan Darrow as Madoff sons Mark and Andrew, respectively. Barry Levinson directs.

Multiple films about a well-known person, such as Truman Capote or Steve Jobs, constitute "an old tradition," says Dreyfuss, who is writing a novel about the Civil War. "I'm glad we were first. I'm proud of this film and my performance. This is not a competition with Robert. As a citizen, in order to understand history, you have to see both."

Review: ABC's risky 'Madoff' has its rewards

The sources:

Madoff is inspired by The Madoff Chronicles, by ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross, supplemented by additional reporting. Ross appears in recordings of real news coverage of Madoff's crimes and he will co-anchor the Thursday ABC News special, which will feature archival footage of Bernard Madoff, new video of Ruth Madoff as she goes about her day-to-day life and new interviews of others connected to the case.

HBO's film is based on New York Times reporter Diana Henriques' book, The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust, along with Truth and Consequences by Laurie Sandell. Henriques, the first writer to visit Madoff in prison, plays herself.

Orange is the new Bernie for imprisoned financial adviser Bernard Madoff (Richard Dreyfuss) meeting with wife Ruth (Blythe Danner) in ABC's 'Madoff.'

Diversified portfolios:

Levinson directed Dreyfuss in Tin Men (1987), the story of Baltimore men who bend the law at times, but on a much smaller scale. De Niro and Danner played a different set of parents in Meet the Parents (2000) and its sequels.

Oscar pedigree:

De Niro has two Academy Awards: Best actor for Raging Bull (1980) and supporting actor for The Godfather: Part II (1974). And Dreyfuss took best actor for The Goodbye Girl (1977). Levinson won for directing Rain Man (1988).

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