Rebecca Lenkiewicz has been hired to write the screenplay for a planned movie about Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s quest to break the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The film will follow the New York Times reporters as they track down information on the powerful mogul’s alleged sexual harassment and abuse — a blockbuster expose that helped trigger the entertainment industry’s #MeToo reckoning.
Annapurna and Plan B are backing the film. Lenkiewicz’s credits include the Oscar-winning Polish-language film “Ida,” as well as the critically acclaimed indies “Disobedience,” the story of a lesbian romance in the Orthodox Jewish community, and “Colette,” a biopic about the French novelist. She is also a prolific playwright, whose credits include “Her Naked Skin” and “The Painter.”
Kantor and Twohey won Pulitzer Prizes for their work on the story. They subsequently published “She Said,” a non-fiction account of their reporting process that debuted to strong reviews this fall. The rights deal with Plan B and Annapurna was put together by Anonymous Content, which represents the Times. The film is being described as in the vein of “All the President’s Men,” a procedural that looks at the process by which investigative reporters chase leads and untangle scandals.
Annapurna has historically backed auteur-driven fare such as “The Phantom Thread” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” though it has had some box office setbacks in recent years with the likes of “Vice” and “Where’d You Go, Bernadette.” Plan B has produced Oscar-winners such as “12 Years a Slave” and “Moonlight.”