Rosemarie DeWitt has floated around the edges of stardom with the likes of Cinderella Man and The Watch. Now she may be stepping up a notch, as Deadline reports that she’s in talks to play the female lead in Kill the Messenger, alongside Jeremy Renner.
The movie is based on the true story of Gary Webb, a San Jose Mercury News reporter who helped expose the CIA’s involvement in a drug smuggling operation with Nicarauguan rebels in the 1980s. In an effort to discredit the writer, the agency launched a smear campaign before the journalist tragically his own life. Paz Vega is playing the girlfriend of a drug dealer, who seeks Gary’s help in getting him out of jail.
Unfortunately no details have been released about who DeWitt will play.
Michael Cuesta is directing from a screenplay by Peter Landesman, which is adapted from Gary Webb’s book Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, as well as Nick Schou’s Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb. Filming will kick off in August.