After both nabbing Oscar nominations for Moneyball, the duo of Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt are wasting no time to re-team for another project. Deadline reports that Hill will star in the Pitt-produced True Story, which adapts journalist Michael Finkel‘s novel, following a tale of mistaken identity and an investigation into falsifying New York Times-published articles.
Hill will portray Finkel and he’ll also be joined by his co-star of Seth Rogen‘s upcoming directorial debut The Apocalypse, James Franco. This will be far from a comedy though, as the basic story follows Finkel, who learns that a FBI most-wanted criminal Christian Longo (played by Franco) gets captured and was taking his identity. When Finkel gets fired at the New York Times for reportedly falsifying articles his career seemed over, but Longo only wants to speak to Finkel and so begins a strange relationship. Check out the official synopsis below.
True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa weaves a spellbinding tale of murder, love, and deceit with a deeply personal inquiry into the slippery nature of truth. The story begins in February of 2002, when a reporter in Oregon contacts New York Times Magazine writer Michael Finkel with a startling piece of news. A young, highly intelligent man named Christian Longo, on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list for killing his entire family, has recently been captured in Mexico, where he’d taken on a new identity—Michael Finkel of the New York Times.
The next day, on page A-3 of the Times, comes another bit of troubling news: a note, written by the paper’s editors, explaining that Finkel has falsified parts of an investigative article and has been fired. This unlikely confluence sets the stage for a bizarre and intense relationship. After Longo’s arrest, the only journalist the accused murderer will speak with is the real Michael Finkel. And as the months until Longo’s trial tick away, the two men talk for dozens of hours on the telephone, meet in the jailhouse visiting room, and exchange nearly a thousand pages of handwritten letters. With Longo insisting he can prove his innocence, Finkel strives to uncover what really happened to Longo’s family, and his quest becomes less a reporting job than a psychological cat-and-mouse game—sometimes redemptively honest, other times slyly manipulative. Finkel’s pursuit pays off only at the end, when Longo, after a lifetime of deception, finally says what he wouldn’t even admit in court—the whole, true story. Or so it seems.
While Hill’s Oscar recognition for his dramatic Moneyball turn seemed a bit over-the-top, I do like that he is mixing up his film roles, while still proving he has a funny bone (see 21 Jump Street). Pitt is usually on-point when it comes to producing projects as well, so I’m looking forward to this re-team, especially with such a dynamic story to go off of. The film is set to be directed by Rupert Goold, who has a Richard II adaptation starring Patrick Stewart and Ben Wishaw hitting TV sets this year.
What do you think about Pitt, Franco and Hill teaming up? Have you read Finkel’s novel?