Sphere Media Options Hare Krishna Exposé Book

Sphere Media has taken the rights to the New York Times best-selling exposé Monkey on a Stick: Murder, Madness and the Hare Krishnas.

The film exposes the International Society for Krishna Consciousness’s decades-long cover-up of criminality, moral decay and abuse of power. The documentary’s central subject, Nori Muster, was an ardent follower of the movement until she discovered its dark underbelly, which ranged from stockpiling weapons, dealing drugs and fraud to sexual assault, child abuse and murder.

Muster left the movement in 1988 and published the book Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life Behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement. Monkey on a Stick was co-authored by investigate journalists John Hubner and Lindsey Gruson.

The documentary is being directed by Jason Lapeyre (I Declare War, The Texas Cheerleader Murder Plot), who brought the project to Sphere.

“We’ve been looking for the right filmmaker for 35 years, and we couldn’t be more pleased that Jason and Sphere will be telling this story,” Gruson and Huber said. “In countless hours of work in preproduction, they’ve demonstrated a profound commitment to making a documentary that accurately reflects the breadth and complexity of a movement that combined so much of the best and the worst of humanity.”

Lapeyre said, “John and Lindsey’s gripping investigative journalism electrified me when I first read it, and I immediately wanted to adapt their book. Their original article for Rolling Stone that lead to the book—’Dial Om for Murder’—is over 30 years old now, but with the help of Sphere Media and Nori Muster, we can finally tell this timeless story about the duality of human nature and the danger of fanatical religious power with total authenticity. I’m very happy to partner with Sphere Media, given their reputation for generating award-winning global entertainment, and unfortunately it seems like the world is forever in need of this kind of reminder about the tragic consequences of the abuse of power.”

Marlo Miazga, president of unscripted and documentaries at Sphere Media, added, “We’re immensely proud to have gained exclusive access to the people at the heart of an important story. The pioneering and immersive journalism at the heart of the story puts it way ahead of its time and represents a totally fresh take for a modern-day true-crime story. Jason’s vision is exactly how the contributors want to see it told, and we know the result will be one that will fascinate audiences around the world.”