Chris Pine has been attached to play TV news legend Walter Cronkite in a film about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Titled Newsflash, the movie will chronicle how Cronkite broke the news of Kennedy’s murder to the nation in 1963. Mark Ruffalo is attached to play Don Hewitt, who was Cronkite’s producer.
Pine will take over the role from Seth Rogen, who was briefly attached to the part.
Previously, director David Gordon Green was linked to helm the project, but he later pulled out to take charge of the Halloween sequels after he successfully brought the Jamie Lee Curtis horror movie back to the big screen last year.
The filmmaker is also in negotiations to make a movie about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Newsflash, scripted by Ben Jacoby-scripted, will delve into the events that occurred on 22 November 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
According to editors at Deadline, the narrative will unfold in real-time as Cronkite and his producer try to sift through the chaos and accurately report one of the biggest news stories in history.
Greg Silverman’s Stampede is producing with Adam Kolbrenner, with a search for a new director currently underway.
It’s not known why Rogen left the Newsflash, but the actor is no stranger to playing real-life characters, as he portrayed Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, alongside Michael Fassbender.
Pine, 38, has recently starred in Netflix’s historical drama Outlaw King, and will reprise his role as Steve Trevor opposite Gal Gadot for the highly-anticipated Wonder Woman 1984.