The new movie War Dogs is based on a true story that's just too insane to believe. Jonah Hill and Miles Teller portray Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz, respectively, two so-called stoners in their early twenties who scored a U.S. Defense Department contract and made several hundred million dollars dealing arms in Afghanistan as part of the War on Terror. The pair's gig ended when they were found to be in violation of the American arms embargo against China, and the movie doesn't paint the best picture of the two men. But what does the real David Packouz think of War Dogs ?
According to his rep, Packouz is not giving any public statements about the film, but from what it seems, War Dogs has its subject's full support. Packouz's Twitter account has essentially gone into full promotion mode, with the former arms dealer constantly retweeting ads tweeted out by the film's official account, as well as showing his approval of the movie's accuracy to fans. Overall, he gives the impression of someone who is pretty happy to have a movie made about him. In an Instagram post from 20 weeks ago, Packouz shared an image of the film's poster and captioned it, "Poster for #WarDogs a movie based on my life!!! Miles Teller plays me." He even included a sunglasses-wearing emoji, which suggests he thinks the whole situation is pretty cool.
But just because the film has Packouz's full support, that doesn't mean his former partner feels the same way. While Packouz is busy promoting Guy Lawson's book, Arms and the Dudes, upon which the film is based, Diveroli is hyping his own book, Once a Gun Runner, which gives an alternate account of events. Not only that, but Diveroli is also suing Warner Bros. to try and prevent the film from being distributed, while the studio has put forth a motion to have the case thrown out, stating in the motion, "If IE [Diveroli's company] does not like War Dogs, its remedy is to engage in competing speech in the marketplace of ideas — not to file a lawsuit." Given that the movie is scheduled to be released on Aug. 19 and that a judge has not yet made any decision on the case, it seems unlikely that Diveroli will be successful in his efforts to stop the film from being released to theaters.
The story of War Dogs will likely be told to audiences, and Packouz, for one, seems pretty excited about that — regardless of what his fellow former war dog thinks.
Images: Warner Bros. Pictures
