Katharine Graham Biopic in the Works

An untitled film about the life of Katharine Graham, who led the Washington Post during the Watergate investigation, is under development by HBO, Variety reports.

Joan Didion will pen the script, and Laura Linney has shown interest in the starring role. Robert Benton, the Oscar-winning director/writer of Kramer vs. Kramer, is set to direct. Laura Ziskin, Julie Goldstein and Pam Williams will serve as executive producers.

Variety's sources, however, stressed that the TV movie is still in its early stages of development.

Graham assumed the role of publisher of the Washington Post in 1963 after her mentally troubled husband, Philip, the former publisher, committed suicide. She won the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College in 1973. Her memoir, Personal History, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

Graham died in 2001 at the age of 84 from injuries sustained from a fall in Sun Valley, Idaho.