Bitcoin nuts harass crew of film that satirizes kidnapping Satoshi Nakamoto
The makers of a new Bitcoin film say they received warnings from crazy crypto fans who threatened to close down production if they didn’t get their say.
Decrypted is a satirical comedy about a botched kidnapping of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, who mysteriously abdicated from the project in 2011.
“They threatened to close down production unless we told the story in a very specific way,” director and producer Tom Sands told the Daily Mail.
Sands said the film (which released this week) is “supportive of the crypto community.”
However, some of Bitcoin’s more fervent supporters weren’t willing to take any chances on how their beloved crypto was portrayed on screen.
One sinister message sent via the Substantial Films website said: “You do not have permission to create or use the likeness of Satoshi Nakamoto. We may be silent but we are in no way out of the picture and will do what it takes to protect our brand.”
The film’s cast also wasn’t safe. Akie Kotabe, who plays Nakamoto, received a slew of threats via his Instagram.
“You better hope I like this fucking movie,” said one. “It’s illegal for me to say what I’m going to do to you all but I think you understand exactly what I mean.”
Despite the hate mail, Sands and the rest of the Decrypted cast and crew continued undaunted.
Specifically, the film examines concepts of transparency and honesty — two of Bitcoin’s central tenets.
“I would never let anyone else prescribe the stories for our films or interfere in the film-making process in any way,” said Sands (via Daily Mail).
“It was clearly a very worrying situation but we discussed this between us and decided to make the film as we wanted to make it,” added Kotabe.
So far, the new Bitcoin movie seems to hit some of the right notes. It currently has an IMDB rating of 7.9.
“An outrageous and provocative dark comedy about a mismatched NSA team who kidnap the creator of Bitcoin — Satoshi Nakamoto — and attempt to torture him for the information they need to destroy cryptocurrencies,” reads the title’s blurb.
Decrypted not the first Bitcoin film
While satirizing the kidnapping of Satoshi Nakamoto sounds pretty fun, Hollywood has already churned out a crypto-focused film.
In 2019, Kurt Russell and Luke Hemsworth starred in poorly-received crime drama Crypto. The movie is about a financial compliance officer’s quest to save his father’s farm from Russian money launderers.
[Read more: The Antisocial Network: Winklevoss twins to make film about WallStreetBets]
And in August, Variety pegged Hold on For Dear Life (HODL) as the world’s first TV series about cryptocurrency.
According to reports, the 10-part sitcom will also tokenize its net profits and pay them to holders of its For Dear Life (FDL) security token.
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