Paul Greengrass, coming off his 2018 drama 22 July, is in negotiations to team with Tom Hanks to tackle News of the World, Fox 2000’s adaptation of the Paulette Jiles novel.
Luke Davies, who penned Lion, wrote the script for World, which is set in the aftermath of the Civil War and tells of a widowed news reader who travels from town to town in Texas announcing the news of the times. He is given a handsome sum to deliver a young orphan girl, whose parents were killed by a Native American tribe who then raised her as their own, to her family in San Antonio. The duo travel 400 miles through dangerous terrain, slowly developing a bond that will be tested when the man must give the girl up to relatives that not only don’t want her but have abusive plans for her.
Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing through Playtone with Gail Mutrux through Pretty Pictures. Elizabeth Gabler and Nikki Ramey will oversee for Fox 2000.
Greengrass cut his teeth making TV movies in his native England before wowing audiences on this side of the Pond when he took over Universal’s Bourne action franchise with The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. He also made the harrowing 9/11 drama United 93, while his tight helming duties earned Captain Phillips six Oscar nominations.
Greengrass’ movies have mostly been tied to the present via timely themes or current events — July 22 looked at the worst terrorist attack in Norway’s history — but News of the World will be his first American feature set in the distant past.
Greengrass is repped by CAA
