News

Joseph Baxter Mar 5, 2019

Joe Wright’s next movie will return him to World War II, this time from an American’s perspective, with In the Garden of Beasts.

Director Joe Wright appears to be on the verge of returning to the historical backdrop of World War II, which, of course, recently yielded a bevy of BAFTA and Oscar-winning success in 2018 for his Winston Churchill biopic, Darkest Hour, this time eyeing the big chair for non-fiction book adaptation In the Garden of Beasts.

StudioCanal and Playtone Productions are finalizing negotiations with Wright to direct the historical thriller, according to Variety. The film will adapt Erik Larson’s 2011 New York Times bestselling book, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, which was quickly optioned for adaptation in its release year by Tom Hanks through his Playtone shingle. Flashing forward to now, the project appears to...

Over a year ago, we reported that The Artist director Michel Hazanavicius was on board to direct Will, a film that's been in development for over four years. The script, written by actor/comedian Demetri Martin, is set in a world where heavenly scribes write everyone’s destinies, and Paul Rudd plays a man whose angelic writer Will (Zach Galafinakis) quits, thus forcing him to follow his own path without guidance from above. Rather than moving straight to this project, Hazanavicius decided to make The Search his follow-up to The Artist. The movie stars centers on a Chechen Ngo worker, played by The Artist’s Berenice Bejo, and a young boy whom she befriends. The movie is current playing at Cannes, and at the festival Hazanavicius told Variety he intends to make Will his next picture, and that he plans to start filming at the end of this year or...

Last year it was reported that Tom Hanks and his producing partner Gary Goetsman would be adapting the Erik Larson novel, In the Garden of the Beasts, for the big screen. Hanks would take on the lead role in the film, and now there's a new report from Deadline saying that The Artist director Michel Hazanavicius is currently in talks to helm, and Natalie Portman could end up playing Hanks' daughter in the story.

The film is set during Hitler’s rise to power. It's based on the true story of William Dodd, "the United States' reluctant and mild-mannered ambassador to Berlin in 1933, and his daughter Martha, a vivacious socialite who had romantic affairs with a Gestapo official and a Soviet spy. Dodd and his family at first naively navigated life in Nazi Germany (Dodd’s daughter was excited when Hitler kissed her hand) but they slowly gained awareness of the mounting brutality around them.

Michael Hazanavicius, Oscar's reigning Best Director for The Artist, is in talks to direct an adaptation of the nonfiction book In the Garden of Beasts. Tom Hanks is set to star as William Dodd, a professor who becomes America's ambassador to the Hitler-run Germany just prior to World War II. Hanks is also producing with Gary Goetzman through their Playtone banner, and Deadline hears they are courting Natalie Portman to play William's daughter. Hazanavicius is reportedly working on a new draft of the script with an unnamed writer that will soon be hired. With this level of talent attached and the awards-friendly subject matter, it should not surprise you to hear that the project is a priority for Universal Pictures co-chairman Donna Langley. Hit the jump for more on the story by way of the synopsis for Erik Larson's book. The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd...

The Larry Crowne actor is looking to produce and possibly star in the adaption of the non-fiction book chronicling an American ambassador and his family living in Hitler's Berlin. The best-selling author of Devil in the White City documents the efforts of William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Hitler's Germany, to acclimate to a residence in an increasingly violent city where he is forced to associate with the Nazis while his daughter pursues a relationship with Gestapo chief Rudolf Diels. Universal Studios recently bought the rights to Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, which was published in May of 2011. Playtone's Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman will produce the project with the former potentially set to star. The...

Universal Pictures optioned the movie rights to adapt author Erik Larson’s best-selling novel “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin.” The studio is eyeing actor Tom Hanks as the potential star for the film adaptation. Here is the non-fiction book’s overview: The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo,...

When you’re coming off the big disappointment of Larry Crowne, the simple idea of seeing Tom Hanks in another good movie is, in a slightly unfortunate way, all the more enticing. I’m fairly confident that Paul Greengrass‘ A Captain’s Duty will fit the bill — but, if for some reason it doesn’t, THR has news of another strong possibility.

As they tell us, the actor plans to lead In the Garden of Beasts, a historical drama based on Erik Larson‘s non-fiction book; he’ll also produce through Playtone with Gary Goetzman. Set in the ’30s, this tells the true story of William Dodd, America’s “reluctant and mild-mannered ambassador to Berlin in 1933, and his daughter Martha, a vivacious socialite who had romantic affairs with a Gestapo official and a Soviet spy.” While they initially enjoy their time in Nazi Germany, he and his family “slowly gained...

Tom Hanks is set to produce and possibly star in a new film called In the Garden of Beasts that's being set up at Universal Pictures. The studio acquired the movie rights to the Erik Larson nonfiction novel, which is called In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin. This is yet another World War II project that Hanks has attached himself to. I am a huge fan of Hanks, the guy is just so damn cool and he always gets involved with solid films. This one sounds like it could be great. The film is set during Hitler’s rise to power.

The film is based on the true story of William Dodd, "the United States' reluctant and mild-mannered ambassador to Berlin in 1933, and his daughter Martha, a vivacious socialite who had romantic affairs with a Gestapo official and a Soviet spy.