Amma Asante Directing The Billion Dollar Spy

Amma Asante

by James White |
Published on

We've enjoyed seeing the rise of Amma Asante's career, and the director behind films such as Belle and A United Kingdom has now found a project to follow her latest, Where Hands Touch. She'll make book adaptation The Billion Dollar Spy.

Pulitzer Prizewinner David E. Hoffman wrote the tome, which tells the true story of a man who became the Pentagon's most valuable spy during the waning years of the Cold War. Adolf G. Tolkachev, chief designer of the USSR's Research Institute of Radio Engineering, convinced the CIA that he could be a valuable source and went on to hand over reams of classified documents to the States.

He rose to be one of the primary sources in the agency's spy network, working under constant threat of discovery, and mostly asking for gifts for his son in return. He continued to funnel intelligence out of Soviet Russia until a betrayal threatened to put him and his family at risk.

Ben August wrote the adaptation, with Walden Media and Akiva Goldsman's Weed Road providing the backing. As mentioned above, Where Hands Touch is now in post-production, but has yet to announce a release date.

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