Robert Redford is set to helm “The Conspirator,” the story of Mary Surratt, an alleged accomplice and conspirator of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth.
Centering in a volatile time when the country was on the cusp of another civil war, the film follows the story of Surratt as she was allegedly part of the plot to kill Lincoln in supplying Wilkes Booth and his accomplice David Herold weapons at her tavern after the assassination took place at Ford’s Theater. Surratt was eventually convicted and hanged for conspiring to kill the president.
Also featured in the film will be a young Union hero named Frederick Aiken who was appointed to defend Surratt and comes to believe that the widow is innocent. Casting for the film is set to take place imminently with James McAvoy — who’s a Brit, mind you — said to be at the top of their list for one of the lead roles – probably Aiken?
Redford is also attached to direct “Against All Enemies,” the adaptation of Richard Clarke’s expose about the Bush administration’s intelligence failures, though that project has become uncertain since the fall of Capitol Films, which was aboard the project.
Producing “The Conspirator” will be Rob and Web Stone, Brian Peter Falk and Greg Shapiro (“The Hurt Locker”) with everything set to go in front of cameras as soon as this fall.
This would mean the film will beat out an HBO production on the search for Lincoln’s assassin based on James Swanson’s “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer” which had Harrison Ford attached and Steven Spielberg’s long gestating Lincoln biopic with Liam Neeson in the title role which was killed and then revived within a week earlier this year and now probably put-off indefinitely. [BFDealMemo]
