Paul Greengrass, whose latest movie, News of the World, is a contender in this year’s Oscar race, has found his next project.
The filmmaker is reuniting with Universal, the studio behind his kinetic Bourne movies, to develop and direct Night of Camp David, a political thriller that adapts the best-selling 1965 book by Fletcher Knebel.
Greengrass will also produce with Gregory Goodman, a frequent collaborator with whom he made News, real-life drama 22 July, and thrillers Jason Bourne and Captain Phillips.
Jed Mercurio, a British television creator (he was behind the royal police thriller Bodyguard that starred Richard Madden), is writing the script.
Providing eerie similarities to recent political headlines, Camp David told of a junior U.S. senator who comes to believe that the president is mentally unbalanced and sliding into paranoia as he seeks closer ties to the Soviet Union, believes a media cabal is out to get him, and wants to annex Canada. The book was republished in 2018 to capitalize on events of the Trump presidency.
Universal executive vp production Matt Reilly will oversee the project on behalf of the studio.
Greengrass’ Western News starred Tom Hanks as a newsreader who journeys over dangerous terrain to reunite a young girl with her remaining family. The movie earned four Oscar nominations in the production categories, while the score and young actress Helena Zengel also received notices. The film began life as a Fox project but was picked up for domestic distribution by Universal — which loves to be in the Greengrass business — after the former studio’s acquisition by Disney.
Greengrass is repped by CAA and Goodman Genow.
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