In recent months, Hollywood has been making headlines for what's been going on behind the scenes. Now, it appears that the story of Harvey Weinstein is going to move in front of the camera as well. Two production studios have partnered to acquire the rights to the story of the reporters who first broke the story of Harvey Weinstein, which led to a flood of women coming forward regarding other people in power, which became the Me Too and Time's Up movements.
Annapurna, who co-produced last year's Detroit and Phantom Thread, and Plan B, behind films like Moonlight and The Big Short, are partnering to put together a film about New York Times Reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, the pair who originally broke the story about the allegations of misconduct against Harvey Weinstein. The focus of the movie is being compared to Spotlight and All the President's Men, as the movie won't be about Weinstein specifically, but will instead focus on the reporters as they investigate the allegations and eventually publish the story while dealing with threats of litigation and intimidation.
Interesting, according to Deadline, the deal for the rights to the New York Times reporters' story has come after the paper made a deal with a production company Anonymous Content specifically to get the stories of its investigative reports turned into film and television projects. It seems that after seeing Steven Spielberg make The Post, about the Washington Post's involvement in the Pentagon Papers, when the New York Times was actually the paper to break the story, has caused The Times to make sure they don't get scooped like that again.
It's far from surprising to see Hollywood look to make a quick turn around on this story. It's still a major headline in the news right now. True stories do well attracting an audience, and the fresher the news the better. Considering how well movies like The Post and Spotlight have been received in recent years, making the focus of the film the reporters rather than the scandal itself also makes a lot of sense. It will give the story clear heroes to root for, rather than simply focusing on the potentially difficult terrain of the scandal. The two reporters shared a Pulitzer Prize for their report.
No time frame was announced on the potential project, even with the rights being secured now there will still need to be a script written before the movie can actually go into production. Still, one would expect this one will be put on the fast track in order to ensure it hits screens as soon as possible.
