Paramount & Cross Creek Board Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Chicago 7;’ Frank Langella, Mark Rylance Join Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jonathan Majors
By Mike Fleming Jr Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, Film @DeadlineMike August 29, 2019 10:59am EXCLUSIVE: Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is finally getting its day in court. Paramount Pictures has come aboard for domestic distribution, and Cross Creek has boarded as co-financier and is producing along with Amblin Partners. The collective funding infusion has the film now on track to begin production this fall.
Shutterstock Frank Langella has agreed to play US District Court Judge Julius Hoffman, who presided over the trial, and Mark Rylance will play William Kuntsler, the lawyer who defended the civil rights activists. They join a killer cast that previously circled the picture: Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Richard Schultz, Jonathan Majors as Bobby Seale and Alex Sharp as Rennie Davis. These were the major players in the 1969 trial of anti-war activists charged by the federal government with conspiracy for their roles of fomenting protests that marred the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. More stars are being firmed in time for an October production start. That will give the film the chance to be released in the heat of the 2020 presidential elections. Michael Keaton is one of the actors who’ve been mentioned.