THE founder of notorious online market place Silk Road who is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole will be immortalised in a new film written by the Coen brothers.

The Oscar winning duo responsible for producing films such as Fargo, True Grit and No Country For Old Men will write the screenplay for the new movie following author Dennis Lehane’s original draft, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Currently there is no one signed on to direct the movie and it is unclear if the Coen brothers will potentially assume a role behind the camera as well.

The movie, titled Dark Web, is based on a two-part Wired Magazine article which chronicled the rise and fall of Ulbricht’s illegal online empire which he operated under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts.

The website existed on the dark web and provided a one-stop shop for all illicit drugs imaginable. It also grew to host other nefarious products and services including hit men for hire — something US authorities accused Mr Ulbricht of seeking out himself.

Visitors used a Tor browser (a technique known as an onion router) to conceal their virtual identity and purchased items with digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin, posing immense difficulties for FBI investigators who spent years trying to bring down the site and its mastermind.

In 2013 agents swooped on Ulbricht in a San Francisco public library and later charged him with several felonies including narcotics trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.

US District Judge Katherine Forrest chose to impose the harshest sentence she could, essentially equating him with a mafia boss in hopes of sending a message to other would-be cyber criminals.

The now 32-year-old is destined to spend life in a New York prison cell while his family fight to appeal his sentence.

“It’s very clear that drugs are not the reason Ross is in there,” his mother Lynn Ulbricht told the Daily Dot earlier this year.

“He’s there because he was a political threat, because of the political philosophy of the site, of Bitcoin, of Tor, all of that.”

It’s clear the US wanted to make an example out of Ulbricht. His sentence — considered unduly harsh by some — highlights the shifting nature of organised crime in the internet age. Following the sentence, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara called Mr Ulbricht “the face of cybercrime”.

And it’s a face that will be brought to life on the big screen very soon — a responsibility that now rests with the highly acclaimed Coen brothers.