The Rise And Fall Of Beauty Biz Upstart Brandon Truaxe To Be Chronicled In Doc ‘The Abnormal Beauty Company’

Zac Ntim and Andreas Wiseman
·3 min read

EXCLUSIVE: ​​The life and career of Brandon Truaxe, founder of cosmetics conglomerate DECIEM, is set for the big screen treatment.

Real Friends Media and The Donaldson Company, led by producers Lana Belle Mauro (Hip Hop Evolution, Once Were Brothers) and Mackenzie Donaldson (Orphan Black, Snowpiercer), respectively, are partnering to produce a doc titled The Abnormal Beauty Company, which will examine Truaxe through his most successful brand, The Ordinary.

More from Deadline

Told through intimate interviews, never-seen-before footage, and a deep archive of social media posts, the pic will be directed by Aref Mahabadi, a founding member of DECIEM, The Ordinary’s parent company. The doc is billed as an “unprecedented” behind-the-scenes examination of how The Ordinary “sparked a skincare revolution with its commitment to transparency” while offering a window into Truaxe’s “public and tragic self-destruction.”

Editors Eugene Weis (Revival69: The Concert That Rocked The World) and Dave McMahon (The Kids In The Hall: Comedy Punks) will work alongside Mahabadi on the doc. Principal photography is set for a December end, with world rights still on the table.

A former computer scientist, Truaxe launched a series of companies under the DECIEM brand, including The Ordinary, which was first established in 2016. The brand became an almost instant critical and commercial hit. As the company’s success grew, however, Truaxe became increasingly erratic in both public and private, even taking control of the brand’s social media accounts in order to have a direct line to consumers in 2018. Truaxe died in January 2019, aged 40, after falling from his apartment in downtown Toronto.

“Having lived through working at DECIEM in 2016, I was fortunate enough to witness first-hand the incredible journey of the company – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the truly incredible,” Mahabadi said.

“What has frustrated me the most is the way in which the media has misrepresented the true events that took place in 2018. We want to take viewers back to the early days, when the company was a chaotic yet thrilling startup, and show how it grew to become the industry disruptor that it is today. And at the heart of it all is Deciem’s visionary and enigmatic Founder and CEO, Brandon Truaxe. A man who changed my life, and many others, forever.”

Producers Lana Belle Mauro and Mackenzie Donaldson added in a combined statement: “We’re seeing so much interest in the ‘cult of the Founder’ in film and television, but so often these stories are mired in myths or untruths.

“This story is different because Brandon really changed the world by disrupting an industry. Working with Aref Mahabadi is thrilling because his unique first-hand experience is what sets this film apart from fictitious attempts to retell this incredible story – he has the trust and access to the people who were there. We know that audiences will be left feeling amazed at what this close-knit team of 20-somethings built and the loss they endured to get there.”

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.