Antivirus firm founder John McAfee, who recently fled from Belize to Guatemala to avoid questioning as part of a murder investigation, has sold his life story to Montreal-based Impact Future Media.
The 67-year-old's life story is tentatively titled -- wait for it -- Running in the Background: The True Story of John McAfee. The deal was announced in a statement released by Impact Future Media, which described McAfee as both a "famed antivirus software pioneer and human rights advocate."
"We are very excited about working with John McAfee on this initiative," said Francois Garcia, CEO of Impact Future Media, in the statement. "Mr. McAfee has entrusted us with his life story, and that is a responsibility we take very seriously. We will work tirelessly to make certain that his story is shared with the proper industry partners." Impact Future Media said it could develop the story itself, but was also open to licensing the story to others.
"My most heartfelt thank you goes to Impact Future Media and CartoonMonkey Studio," said McAfee in a statement. "Their dedication to the truth is very uncommon in the world we Impact Future Media live in today (sic). I am now, and will always be grateful to their organizations."
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The news led renowned ex-hacker Kevin Mitnick to ask via Twitter who might best play McAfee. As of press time, recommendations included Gary Busey, Gary Oldman, Billy Bob Thornton, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Impact Future Media also announced a deal with CartoonMonkey Studio, which is run by Chad Essley, who maintains McAfee's blog. McAfee recently used the blog to announce that he'd been arrested on the Belize-Mexico border, which he later admitted was a red herring designed to confuse any Belizean pursuers.
The McAfee life story won't be Impact Future Media's first foray into edgy fare. Notably, the firm is already developing several other "entertainment properties," including a television show called High On Tuna about George Jung, who established the American cocaine market in the 1970s. It's also developing an animated series called Flatrock, which is billed as "a fresh and lighthearted look at prison life from the inmate's perspective."
On a related note, shortly after arriving in Guatemala by boat, McAfee was arrested by immigration authorities for having illegally entered the country. Since then, he's been incarcerated in a Guatemalan jail cell, fighting deportation to Belize, where he's wanted for questioning in the murder of his neighbor, fellow American expatriate Gregory Viant Faull, 52.
McAfee has claimed that he's innocent of the murder. "I had absolutely nothing to do with the murder in Belize," he said in a video "news conference" broadcast Sunday from his Guatemalan prison cell, in which he answered questions that had been submitted in advance.
McAfee has claimed that the government of Belize is framing him for Faull's murder, as part of a long-running vendetta against him. "The intent to question me has nothing to do with Mr. Faull's murder," he said in the news conference.
Another question asked whether McAfee -- whose behavior has been seen as erratic -- has ever taken designer drugs known as bath salts, as was suggested by a recent Vice magazine story. In response, he said, "I do not take drugs and have not taken drugs for over 30 years. I do not drink. I haven't taken a drop of alcohol."
For McAfee followers who can't wait for the official version of his life events to debut, help is at hand. Taiwanese news show Next Media Animation last week released a wacky CGI recreation of McAfee's flight from justice.
