Editorial Staff
A cast of heavyweights, led by Seth Rogen, are set to bring legendary newsreader Walter Cronkite’s life to the big screen.
The “Disaster Artist” actor will play the iconic CBS newsman in “Newsflash” for director David Gordon Green (“The Pineapple Express”). According to Deadline, Ben Jacoby’s script takes place on November 22, 1963, the day President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Texas. It was that day that television network news came of age, and Cronkite became the most trusted TV newsman voice of America, even if he wasn’t first to announce the president had died (NBC did that).
The film, set up at new company Stampede Ventures (owned by former Warner Bros bigwig Greg Silverman), has Mark Ruffalo and Bryan Cranston in mind for the roles of producer Don Hewitt, and his boss Jim Aubrey, respectively. Then young-newsman Dan Rather would also factor into the story.
“Newsflash” would be quite a departure for Rogen, who though best known for his comedic roles has started to play more diverse roles, like Steve Wozniak in “Jobs” and the male lead at the center of Sarah Polley’s tragic love story “Take This Waltz”.
