What is it about Stanley Kubrick and low-level British con men?

First there was Alan Conway, a travel agent turned impersonator, who went around in the 1990s pretending to be Kubrick and whose unlikely success was the basis of the 2005 movie Color Me Kubrick, starring John Malkovich. Now comes news, via UK’s Bury Free Press, of another eyes-wide-open scammer:

A Finningham man, who posed as a successful Hollywood filmmaker to con two aspiring screenwriters out of 121,000 pounds, has been jailed for three and a half years.

Richard Maskery, 42, claimed he was a protégé of legendary director Stanley Kubrick and was involved in producing Tom Cruise films, including Mission Impossible. He convinced the screenwriters he was negotiating with stars and leading Hollywood directors and extracted nearly 55,000 pounds of their savings to finance the project.

An even larger sum of money was collectively invested by friends of the screenwriters. Also, an accomplice of Maskery’s was apparently able to leverage a London paparazzi shot that, purely by chance, showed him walking alongside Clint Eastwood.

By the way, we realize hindsight in all matters is 20/20. But when a person’s last name is “Maskery,” buyers should always beware.

[Photo courtesy Magnolia Pictures]