THE STRANGE CAREER OF WILLIAM ELLIS Will Be Produced By Phillip Rodriguez

Deadline reports that producer Phillip Rodriguez has acquired the rights to Karl Jacoby's "The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire."

Jacoby's book tells the true story of William Ellis, a larger-than-life figure who was born on the U.S.-Mexico border in the twilight of slavery and inhabited a world divided along ambiguous racial lines. Adopting the name Guillermo Eliseo, he passed as Mexican, transcending racial lines to become fabulously wealthy as a Wall Street banker, diplomat, and owner of scores of mines and haciendas south of the border.

"Karl Jacoby's stranger-than-fiction historical biography unfolds the private life and social world of a bold, but enigmatic figure who flitted in and out of an astonishing array of his era's most noteworthy events," said Rodriguez. "His journey will resonate in today's climate in which we are again rewriting the rules of race and identity."

Rodriguez is a documentarian who makes narrative films about forgotten figures in history. For more information, check out his website.

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