After bouncing back from Pan to guide Gary Oldman to the Oscar stage with Darkest Hour, Joe Wright has been busy on his latest film, The Woman In The Window. But he's also on the lookout for work beyond that, and is making a deal to direct the long-gestating adaptation of Erik Larson's book In The Garden Of Beasts.
This is one that Tom Hanks has been attached to for a while, eyeing the lead while also producing via his Playtone company. To give it its full title, In The Garden Of Beasts: Love, Terror And An American Family In Hitler’s Berlin, Larson’s tome is based on the true story of US Ambassador William Dodd, a gentlemanly sort who reluctantly agreed to represent the States in Berlin in 1933. He had to deal with the rise of Hitler and his socialite daughter Martha, who was notorious for her string of lovers, including a Gestapo official and a Soviet spy. While the family were initially naïve about the horror building around them, they slowly became more and more aware.
Hanks is still considering whether he'll take on the Dodd role, though that'll probably now depend on the script. And he was one of the people who optioned the book in the first place, joining forces first with Universal (which has since let the rights lapse) and now StudioCanal.
Given his past work with Atonement, this is certainly something Wright can do well, but now we'll see if it all comes together. The Woman In The Window, meanwhile, will be out on 27 September.
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