Steven Spielberg to direct film about publication of Pentagon Papers

Director Steven Spielberg has signed on to direct Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in a film about the Washington Post’s publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

Hanks will star as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and Streep as publisher Kay Graham, who challenged the federal government in the Supreme Court over the right to publish the leaked classified documents about US involvement in the Vietnam War, the entertainment website Deadline first reported.

Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures purchased the script, and Pascal will serve as a producer, along with Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger.

Spielberg is currently in post-production on the Warner Bros. film “Ready Player One” and is also in pre-production on “The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara,” about the struggle of Jewish parents to regain their son who was forcibly taken to be raised as a Christian.

— JTA