Dwayne Johnson, left, stars as Paul Doyle, Tony Shalhoub as Victor Kershaw and Mark Wahlberg as Daniel Lugo in “Pain & Gain.” Shalhoub’s character is based on the real-life story of Marc Schiller.
Contributed photo by Jaimie Trueblood/Paramount PicturesAbout Ed Du BoisDu Bois is a private detective based in Miami. His daughter, Christy Falco, lives in Chattanooga. In addition to being part of the “Pain & Gain” story, Du Bois has written a song called “Pain and Gain — Retribution Song” that tells part of the tale. While visiting his daughter last year, he had local musician Tim Jester add a fiddle part to the song. The original plan was to use the song in the movie, “but it didn’t work,” Du Bois says. “It’s too upbeat.” You can find links to the Miami New Times story and hear the song at eddubois.com.
Ed Du Bois has long and short versions of the story.
It’s a true tale of how a group of bodybuilders met in a Miami gym, came up with a scheme to kidnap and torture a rich man, forcing him to sign over most of what he owned to them. When they got away with it — or thought they did — they decided to do the same thing to another couple. But those people died.
“The short story is that some bodybuilders decided to get a side business going and two people died,” DuBois says. “But the short version leaves out such great side stories of the darker side and the human side.”
The tale, which writer Pete Collins first unveiled in articles published in December 1999 and January 2000 in the Miami New Times, is now onscreen in “Pain & Gain,” the latest movie by director Michael Bay (the “Transformers” franchise) which opens nationwide today. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie and Rebel Wilson as the main “bad guys,” Ed Harris as Du Bois, a private investigator who looked into the case, and Tony Shalhoub as the victim. It’s based partly on the New Times article.