Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep are set to partner on the movie “The Post,” a film centered on the Washington Post’s publication of the 1971 Pentagon Papers, sources tell Variety.
Spielberg will direct with Hanks and Streep attached to star. Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures purchased the spec by Liz Hannah last fall, with Pascal on board to produce along with Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger. Rachel O’Connor will be executive producer along with Star Thrower Entertainment’s Tim and Trevor White, and Adam Somner.
The film will be co-financed by Fox and Amblin Entertainment. Fox will handle domestic distribution; international will be Amblin, through its output deals with Universal, eOne, Reliance, and others.
The Pentagon Papers made headlines prior to article’s publication when the Post’s editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Kay Graham challenged the federal government over their right to publish them.
Hanks would play Bradlee and Streep would play Graham. Both actors, who are repped by CAA, are coming off critically acclaimed roles, with Streep receiving her 20th Oscar nomination for her performance in “Florence Foster Jenkins,” and Hanks garnering high praise for “Sully.”
Spielberg is currently in post-production on the Warner Bros. pic “Ready Player One” and is also in pre-production on “The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara,” which will star Mark Rylance and Oscar Isaac.