MSNBC Films acquired the first film from Rachel Maddow’s production company, an upcoming documentary about Soviet-born businessman Lev Parnas titled, “From Russia With Lev,” the network announced on Monday.
“From Russia With Lev,” is the first film project from Maddow and her Surprise Inside production company. The documentary is directed by Billy Corben and produced in partnership with rakontur and Universal Television Alternative Studio, with Maddow serving as executive producer.
The documentary will debut at the network’s massive live event, “MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024,” on Sept. 7 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The film will debut on MSNBC later in September.
“There should be more documentaries from an insider’s perspective about the Trump presidency. There should be a Mike Pence documentary. There should be a John Kelly documentary, or a Rex Tillerson documentary. But it takes someone like Lev Parnas to be brave enough to speak up first,” Maddow said in a statement. “Lev’s story is un-put-down-able.”
“Lev Parnas’s story is like Tom Clancy if Jack Ryan was played by Jackie Mason,” Corben added. “This film is a continuation of rakontur’s signature subgenre of ‘Florida Men Behaving Badly with World-Changing Geopolitical Stakes.’”
The film reveals the “scheme that led to former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment,” by following Parnas, a Ukrainian and former small-time mafia operator. Parnas reveals the inner workings of Trump’s camp, dredging up false information about then-candidate Joe Biden.
“From Russia With Lev” pulls from more than 30 hours of interview footage with Parnas, as well as a never-before-seen personal archive of photos, videos, documents, and secret recordings.
After Maddow slimmed down to anchoring once a week on MSNBC, she committed to expanding her multi-platform portfolio within NBCUniversal, including film production and podcast content.
