Director Kathryn Bigelow is set to take on another politically-charged project that is sure to stir up controversy. The Oscar winner is set to bring True American: Murder & Mercy in Texas to the big screen, with Tom Hardy starring.
The nonfiction book was written by Anand Giridharadas and is set in Texas, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, notes Deadline. Mark Stroman killed two immigrants after the attack and tried to kill a third - Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a veteran of the Bangladesh Air Force. True American will focus on Bhuiyan’s attempts to keep Stroman from being executed.
According to Variety, the rights to the book were acquired by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, which also worked on Zero Dark Thirty. W.W. Norton & Company published the book.
Hardy is on a hot streak at the moment, earning rave critical reviews for Locke. He also has The Drop, Child 44, Elton John’s Rocketman and Splinter Cell on tap.
Bigelow won the Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker and her Zero Dark Thirty was nominated for Best Picture. True American would be her first since that film, which centered on the hunt for Osama bin Laden.