Abominable Pictures (Children’s Hospital, Wet Hot American Summer, Mission Implausible) and Green Couch Entertainment (The Deported) have optioned journalist and conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild’s 2023’s Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories. The book, and Rothchild’s previous book, which they’ve also optioned, 2021’s The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything, will be the basis for a documentary feature on the link between the myth of Jewish global domination and the modern conspiracy theory movement. Discussions with potential directors are currently taking place.
With Jewish Space Lasers, Rothschild turned his eye toward the two centuries of antisemitic myths about the legendary Rothschild banking family – to whom he is not related. In The Storm is Upon Us, Rothschild became the first journalist to write a book on the origins and danger of the QAnon conspiracy cult. Together, they reveal the psychological reasons why conspiracy theories attract some and repel others, how they make their creators wealthy, and why they have consumed your Facebook feed.
The documentary will reveal the bizarre and hateful history of the trope around which almost all other antisemitic myths revolve around – that Jews control global politics through a vice-like grip on money and banking, starting in the Middle Ages and continuing today. And in keeping with Judaism’s reliance on humor to survive, the documentary will use comedic elements to explore the absurdity of these myths.
“Jewish Space Lasers was written long before the horror of October 7th and its aftermath. But the antisemitism that exploded into public view that day and afterward didn’t come out of nowhere. It was preceded by centuries of myths, hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and harmful stereotypes about Jews and their supposed desire to control the world. This documentary will tell the story of why antisemitism and conspiracy theories have been intertwined for so long, spotlighting the generations of gurus, grifters, zealots, bigots, cranks, and tyrants who have exploited the myth of Jewish world domination for their own twisted ends,” said Rothschild.
“We’re living in a dangerous moment for Jews when the antisemitism and conspiracy theories that were once the domain of self-published pamphlets and militia cranks are now fired off to massive audiences.”
Jonathan Stern, Scott Weiner, Rothschild, and Seth Nagel will executive produce. UTA is handling the project on behalf of Abominable Pictures and Green Couch Entertainment.
