Matthew Broderick plays Purdue Pharma chairman and president Richard Sackler in Painkiller.
New Netflix drama Painkiller is a fictionalised retelling of real-life events, people and the aftermath of the American opioid crisis. While certain characters and plot lines have been dramatised for the sake of television, there’s one central character that is based on a very real person.
Matthew Broderick stars as one of the series leads, Purdue Pharma president Richard Sackler. Talking about the decision to cast Broderick in the role as Sackler, showrunner Micah Fitzerman-Blue said: “We wanted to make sure that in this series, you see Richard Sackler as a person. I mean, we cast Matthew Broderick. He’s a hard guy to dislike on screen.”
Broderick joins a cast that includes Uzo Aduba, Taylor Kitsch, West Duchovny and more, but after watching Painkiller, viewers’ thoughts will naturally turn to where Sackler is now.
So, what happened to Richard Sackler? Read on for everything you need to know.
Who is Richard Sackler?
Although many of the characters in Painkiller are fictionalised or a composite character – like Edie Flowers – Richard Sackler is indeed a real person.
The American businessman and physician was the chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, which was owned principally by members of the Sackler family as descendants of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler.
Richard, one of the son’s of Raymond, trained as a doctor and originally joined Purdue in 1971 as his father’s assistant and worked his way up the corporate ladder. Purdue’s leading drug at the time, MS Contin, was facing competition and so, the decision was made to pursue research over the production of OxyContin.
After getting the FDA to approve OxyContin in 1995, the company’s marketing drive for the new drug branded it as safer to use than other painkillers.
In Painkiller, we follow Richard through the creation of OxyContin, flash back to his past and at the end, in the future as he faces a barrage of lawsuits.
Talking about the decision to cast Matthew Broderick in the role, Painkiller director and executive producer Pete Berg said: “Our portrayal of Richard Sackler certainly doesn’t think that he’s the bad guy in the story of his life, and one of the really interesting things about Matthew is that he’s just an incredibly nice and kind person, which he brings to playing a character who’s morally questionable. He’s found a whole other dimension to what could have been a somewhat one-note character.”
Where is Richard Sackler now?
As for where Sackler is now, the series wraps up with some up-to-date details about the real-life events on which the series is based. A series of news reports flash up stating that “Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as a direct result of the multi-state lawsuits”.
It states that the Sacklers agreed to pay a settlement of $6 billion and have had to forfeit ownership of Purdue Pharma. No member of the Sackler family has ever been criminally charged in connection with the marketing of OxyContin or any overdose deaths involving it, and Richard has previously denied that he and his family were responsible for the opioid crisis.
Painkiller finally states that “it’s estimated that over 300,000 people have died over the past 20 years from overdoses involving prescription painkillers like OxyContin and that over 40 people die in the US from prescription opioid overdoses every day”.
It also states that as of March 2023, final approval for Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy is still pending.
Over the past several years, Purdue Pharma has been embroiled with multi-state lawsuits, leading to Richard Sackler selling a number of his properties. In 2018, Sackler sold his Cicero Lane home in Austin, Texas for more than $3 million.
As reported in 2022, Sackler also sold his eight-bedroom, 10-bathroom Boca Raton, Florida estate for $4.88 million, according to The New York Post.
The Sackler family have not admitted any wrongdoing throughout the litany of lawsuits against Purdue Pharma but have agreed to pay the $6 billion settlement. As recently as March 2023, Richard Sackler prepared to sell a third property of his for approximately $20 million.
Painkiller is available to stream on Netflix now. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV guide and Streaming Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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