DreamWorks has optioned the rights to Ben Mezrich's "Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions" says The Hollywood Reporter.

"Ugly Americans" tells the true story of John Malcolm, who in the mid-1990s, as a Princeton graduate, took a job offer to be an arbitrage trader for a couple of expatriates in Japan. There, Malcolm and his co-workers went from rags to riches and created the American Dream half a world away until run-ins with the Yakuza and governmental agents sent Malcolm on the run for his life.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan will adapt the material. Schenkkan won the Pulitzer for best drama for "The Kentucky Cycle" and also adapted Graham Greene's "The Quiet American" for Miramax. Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street Prods. is set to produce.

Thanks to 'Crud'.