TV & Movies

Sundance 2020: “Think about the amount of people that you would trust with a big secret like this,” co-director Brian Lazarte tells TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman

How many people does it take to defraud McDonald’s out of $24 million?

Directors James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte dropped by TheWrap studio at Sundance to discuss the six-part docuseries “McMillion$,” which made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered on HBO on Feb. 3. It examines the $24 million that was stolen from the McDonald’s Monopoly game between 1989 and 2001, in which there were “almost no legitimate million-dollar winners” in the contest.

“It’s a fascinating thing,” Hernandez explained, “because it spanned this huge amount of time and even the FBI agents said on all the years working cases, how do you keep this many people quiet for that many years?”

Hernandez gave a little insight into how the crime took place (without giving too much away) telling TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman, “So it started out with getting the game piece and then you have to get a recruiter because think about the amount of people you know that you would trust with a big secret like this.”

“But each winner couldn’t live in the same exact city to make it seem as if it was random throughout the country,” Lazarte added. “So every person who came forward, they claimed that they were the person who actually peeled the game. But in fact, they either purchased the game piece through this syndicate, claimed the piece for themselves, and then distributed the money through whoever else was attached to it.”

In addition to writing and directing “McMillion$,” Hernandez and Lazarte also executive produced the doc series along with Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson and Archie Gips.

The whole scam was first exposed in a 2018 article in the Daily Beast, which explained how Jerome Jacobson and a network of mobsters managed to fix the game over the course of 12 years until the FBI nabbed them. Ben Affleck and 20th Century Fox even nabbed the rights to the story back in 2018, and Affleck had an eye on directing the film for Matt Damon to star.

Sundance Portraits From A to Z: Andy Samberg to Zazie Beetz (Exclusive Photos)

  • Glenn Close, “Four Good Days” 

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  • Mila Kunis, “Four Good Days” 

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  • Writer-director Rodrigo Garcia, “Four Good Days”  

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  • Actress Toni Collette, “Dream Horse” 

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  • Director Euros Lyn, “Dream Horse” 

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  • Sienna Miller, “Wander Darkly” 

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  • Diego Luna, “Wander Darkly”

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  • Director Ron Howard, “Rebuilding Paradise” 

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  • Alison Brie, “Horse Girl”

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  • Jeff Baena, “Horse Girl”

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  • Steven Yeun, “Minari”

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  • Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari” 

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  • Yeri Han, “Minari” 

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  • Writer-director Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”

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  • Kelly Rowland, “Bad Hair”

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  • Ashley Blaine Featherson, “Bad Hair”

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  • James Van Der Beek, “Bad Hair”

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  • Yaani King Mondschein, “Bad Hair”

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  • Elle Lorraine, “Bad Hair” 

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  • Director Justin Simien, “Bad Hair” 

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  • Subject (and former fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi) Hatice Cengiz, “The Dissident” 

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  • Director Bryan Fogel, “The Dissident” 

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  • Andy Samberg, “Palm Springs” 

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  • Cristin Milioti, “Palm Springs”

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  • Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, “Palm Springs” 

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  • Writer Andy Siara, “Palm Springs” 

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  • Joe Keery, “Spree” 

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  • John DeLuca, “Spree”

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  • David Arquette, Sasheer Zamata, director Eugene Kotlyarenko, John DeLuca, and Joe Keery, ” Spree”

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  • Peter Macdissi, Paul Bettany, director Alan Ball and Sophia Lillis, “Uncle Frank”

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  • Writer-director Alan Ball, “Uncle Frank”

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  • Actor Paul Bettany, “Uncle Frank”

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  • Actress Sophia Lillis, “Uncle Frank”

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  • Actor Peter Macdissi, “Uncle Frank”

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  • Rachel Brosnahan, “Ironbark”

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  • Director Dominic Cooke, actors Rachel Brosnahan and Merab Ninidze, “Ironbark” 

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  • Wilmer Valderrama, “Blast Beat”

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  • Diane Guerrero, “Blast Beat”

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  • Actor Moises Arias, “Blast Beat”

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  • Actress Kali Uchis, “Blast Beat”

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  • Daniel Dae Kim, “Blast Beat”

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  • Actor Mateo Arias, “Blast Beat”

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  • Esteban Arango, “Blast Beat”

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  • ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt, “The Fight” 

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  • ACLU lawyer Brigitte Amiri, “The Fight” 

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  • Producers Kerry Washington and Eli Despres, filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, and lawyers Lee Gelernt and Brigitte Amiri, “The Fight” 

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  • Winston Duke, “Nine Days”

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  • Bill Skarsgård, “Nine Days”

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  • Zazie Beetz, “Nine Days”

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  • Benedict Wong, “Nine Days”

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  • Arianna Ortiz, “Nine Days”

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  • David Rysdahl, “Nine Days”

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  • Writer-director Edson Oda, “Nine days”

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  • Sil Lai Abrams, Drew Dixon, and Sherri Hines, “On the Record”

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  • Gloria Steinem, “The Glorias”

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  • Director Julie Taymor, “The Glorias”

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  • Actor Harvey Guillén, “What We Do in the Shadows”

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  • Christopher Abbott, “Possessor” 

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  • Brandon Cronenberg, “Possessor” 

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  • Agnes Gund, “Aggie” 

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  • Director Catherine Gund, “Aggie” 

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  • Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, “Farewell Amor”

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  • Zainab Jah, “Farewell Amor” 

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  • Jayme Lawson, “Farewell Amor” 

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  • Musicians Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin, Gina Schock, TheWrap’s Steve Pond, Belinda Carlisle and Kathy Valentine, “The Go Go’s” 

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  • The Go Go’s and director Alison Ellwood

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  • Actor John Reynolds, “Save Yourselves”  

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  • Actor Sunita Mani, “Save Yourselves” 

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  • Directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, “Save Yourselves” 

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  • Producers Christine O’Malley, Morgan Neville and Caitrin Rogers, “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana” 

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  • Actress Devin France, “Wendy” 

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  • Elisabeth Moss, “Shirley” 

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  • Michael Stuhlbarg, “Shirley” 

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  • Director Josephine Decker, “Shirley” 

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  • Actor Logan Lerman, “Shirley” 

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  • Writer-Executive Producer Brian Lazarte, “McMillions” 

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  • Writer-Director James Lee Hernandez, “McMillions” 

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  • Julia Garner, “The Assistant” 

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  • Kitty Green, “The Assistant” 

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  • Zeke Smith, Zackary Drucker and Jen Richards, “Disclosure” 

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  • Rebecca Hall, “The Night House” 

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  • Director David Bruckner, “The Night House” 

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  • Stacy Martin, “The Night House” 

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  • Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Angel Manuel Soto, Caleeb Pinkett, Sherman Payne, and Will Catlett, “Charm City Kings” 

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  • Actor Wagner Moura, “Sergio” 

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  • Brent Travers and Daniel Marc Dreifuss, “Sergio”   

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  • Director Greg Barker, “Sergio” 

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  • Annie Clark and Carrie Brownstein, “The Nowhere Inn” 

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  • Actor Pilou Asbæk, “Run Sweetheart Run” 

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  • Ella Balinska, “Run Sweetheart Run” 

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  • Pilou Asbæk, director Shana Feste and Ella Balinska, “Run Sweetheart Run” 

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  • Emily Mortimer, “Relic” 

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  • Director Patricia Vidal Delgado, “La Leyenda Negra” 

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  • Actress Monica Betancourt, “La Leyenda Negra” 

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  • Actor-writer-director Viggo Mortensen, “Falling” 

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  • Lance Henriksen, “Falling” 

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  • Laurent Bouzereau and Natasha Gregson Wagner, “Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind” 

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  • Producer Stacey Reiss, “Spaceship Earth” 

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  • Producer Mark Nelson, “Spaceship Earth”  

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  • Director Matt Wolf, “Spaceship Earth” 

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  • Subject Linda Leigh, “Spaceship Earth” 

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  • Director Marina Zenovich, “Lance” 

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  • Andrea Riseborough, “Possessor” and Luxor” 

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  • Karim Saleh, “Luxor” 

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  • Director Brenda Chapman, “Come Away” 

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  • Aubrey Plaza, “Black Bear”

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Sundance 2020: Stars like Glenn Close, Kerry Washington and Bill Skarsgard stop by TheWrap Studio presented by Heineken at the Pando Art Gallery

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