Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep to Star in Steven Spielberg’s Pentagon Papers Film
Multiple Oscar winners Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep will appear together on the big screen for the first time in Steven Spielberg‘s The Post, a film about the Pentagon Papers scandal.
Hanks will portray legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee while Streep will play the newspaper’s publisher Kay Graham, the Hollywood Reporter writes.
The film focuses on the Post‘s battle against the federal government over the right to publish the top-secret documents from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s voluminous, warts-and-all account of the Vietnam War.
After military analyst Daniel Ellsberg provided portions of the Pentagon Papers to Bradlee and the Post, which printed them in June 1971, the Attorney General’s office demanded the newspaper cease publishing articles about the documents. The ensuing court battle went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Hanks and Spielberg have previously collaborated on projects like Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and Bridge of Spies, while the director utilized Streep’s voice in A.I. Between the three of them, they’ve won nine Academy Awards. The late Bradlee was previously portrayed by Jason Robards, who won an Academy Award for the role in All the President’s Men.
As all three have already-busy schedules – Spielberg is wrapping up the film adaptation of Ready Player One while toying with the fifth Indiana Jones movie – it’s unclear when production on The Post will begin.
As a recent show of solidarity with the White House press corps, who have been under attack by noted Streep adversary Donald Trump, Hanks sent reporters an espresso machine.