Billy Corben On New Documentary 'Screwball', Alex Rodriguez & Tony Bosch
(CBS Local)--It's been six years since the Biogenesis steroid scandal rocked Major League Baseball.
While Alex Rodriguez's fight against the MLB ended up becoming the biggest story, all of this began with Tony Bosch and his anti-aging clinic in Miami. Filmmaker Billy Corben documents all of this in his new film 'Screwball' and he says Miami is the perfect place for a scandal like this to take place.
"It's America's Casa Blanca. If it appears on the outside as this lawless place where everyone and everything is for sale, that's because it is a lawless place where everyone and everything are for sale," said Corben in an interview with CBS Local. "The reality very much matches the perception. When you have a city that thrives on a predominately gray market economy, gray market people fit in just fine there."
While Corben calls Bosch a fake doctor, he says the man who provided steroids to the likes of Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez prefers the term unlicensed physician instead. Bosch's slick salesman approach is one of the many reasons that his business got off the ground and ended up colliding with Major League Baseball's biggest stars.
"He is a distinctly Miami character. The story is a quintessential only in Miami story," said Corben. "There always seems to be a Miami connection with a major story....from 9/11 to the recent college admissions bribery scandal to Biogenesis, which effectively ended the career of the highest paid baseball player of all time. The intriguing thing about it is that Alex Rodriguez was just collateral damage in this story. What it really is all about is the highest paid baseball player's career ending over a $4,000 loan between a cocaine addicted fake doctor and his fake tan addicted patient."
While Corben's documentary has Bosch and his patient Porter Fisher as its centerpieces, the Miami filmmaker almost did a documentary with A-Rod. Corben was approached by Rodriguez and his camp during their fight with the MLB about doing a tell-all documentary. Although that didn't happen, Corben is fascinated with the rise, fall and rise again of the former MLB slugger.
"I think this is an extraordinary story. I'm always interested in unique characters and extraordinary stories," said Corben. "Alex Rodriguez is a unique character. His story is remarkable. We haven't seen a resurrection like this since Jesus Christ. It's like America today, up is down, down is up. We love A-Rod and hate Derek Jeter. It's bizarro world."
"Screwball" is in theaters now and will be coming to streaming services starting on Friday.