Netflix’s ‘Operation Varsity Blues’ Trailer Skewers the Infamous College Admissions Scandal
Netflix shines an unflattering light on the infamous college admissions scandal in the first trailer for the upcoming documentary “Operation Varsity Blues.”
The film, using real conversations recreated from FBI wiretaps, delves deep into the 2019 nationwide scandal that gripped the country and saw rich and influential parents buy their kids’ ways into top schools.
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The trailer leans heavily into some dramatic irony.
“Is there any risk that this thing blows up in my face?” one parent is heard asking Rick Singer, the mastermind behind the bribery scheme, on the phone. Matthew Modine portrays Singer in the film.
As the documentary highlights, Singer’s schemes included everything from enabling students to cheat on their college admissions tests to building fake athletic profiles (complete with finely photoshopped images) or bribing school officials.
Those methods ultimately put his clients, Hollywood stars like “Full House” actor Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, as well as Felicity Huffman of “Desperate Housewives” fame, behind bars. Dozens of parents were accused of paying anywhere from hundreds of thousands to many millions to get their children into elite colleges in the U.S.
Singer, in the trailer, aptly sums up his scheme: “We help the wealthiest families in the U.S. get their kids into school.” Another interviewee adds, “They had every advantage, and yet they still cheated.”
“Operation Varsity Blues” premieres on the streaming service on March 17. It was directed Chris Smith, the filmmaker behind Netflix’s documentary “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.” Smith also executive produced “Tiger King,” the Netflix breakout sensation that started streaming in the early days of the pandemic.
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