“Zero Dark Thirty” director Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal are planning a movie based on recently released U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
The project would be produced through Boal’s recently launched Page 1 production company, backed by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures.
Separately, Fox Searchlight has acquired movie rights to “America’s Last Prisoner Of War,” written by the late Michael Hastings, with Todd Field (“In The Bedroom”) attached to direct and produce. Hastings’ story was published in 2012 by Rolling Stone while Bergdahl was still a prisoner of the Taliban.
Bergdahl spent five years as a prisoner of war of the Taliban until his release on May 31 in exchange for five Taliban prisoners at the U.S. military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The 28-year-old returned June 13 to an Army medical facility in San Antonio, Texas.
The Obama administration did not inform Congress of the releases despite the requirement of a 30-day notice for any transfers from Guantanamo. The administration has asserted that it ignored the requirement in the belief that Bergdahl’s health was deteriorating.
U.S. special operations forces recovered Bergdahl at a helicopter pickup point in eastern Afghanistan. The Army has launched an investigation, led by Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, into Bergdahl’s 2009 disappearance and capture in Afghanistan.
Boal is the CEO and producer of Page 1 projects and may also write some of the company’s screenplays or teleplay adaptations. Annapurna will have a first-look deal to finance and produce select projects it acquires and develops.
CAA represented Hastings and his research partner Matt Farwell in the deal; Andrew Wylie of the Wylie Agency represents Hastings for publishing.
News of Bigelow and Boal coming on board the Bergdahl project was first reported by Variety sister site Deadline.com.
