Alicia Malone
Apatow alumni Jonah Hill and James Franco will team on the Rupert Goold-directed adaptation of “True Story”, based on a memoir by Michael Finkel, “a disgraced New York Times journalist who discovered that an accused murderer had stolen his identity. Once caught, the fugitive would only talk to the journalist.”
Deadline says “Moneyball” star Hill is playing Finkel, while Franco (“127 Hours”) would play “Christian Longo, who was captured in Mexico after rising near the top of the FBI Ten Most Wanted List for allegedly killing his family.”
Finkel was a writer at The New York Times Magazine in 2002 when he learned of Longo’s capture and that the accused killer had taken the journo’s name. The very next day, the real Finkel was fired by Times editors, right after they ran an editor’s note declaring that he had falsified parts of an investigative article. His career seemingly over, Finkel was given a shot at some redemption when Longo declared that Finkel was the only journalist he would talk to. That led to a surreal relationship with the accused murderer, who was trying to declare his innocence. Unraveling the mystery was a chance for Finkel to salvage something of his career.
Production begins in July on the picture.
