Oliver Stone is closing a deal with United Artists to finance Pinkville, a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai massacre that he would direct. The film would be distributed through MGM.
Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum will star. Mikko Alanne wrote the script.
Variety says the UA commitment could be finalized this week, putting the picture into production by early next year, with a budget of roughly $40 million.
It marks the fourth time Stone has directed a film set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, following Oscar winner Platoon, Heaven & Earth and Born on the Fourth of July.
Willis will play Army Gen. William R. Peers, who supervised the investigation into the massacre by U.S. soldiers of as many as 500 My Lai villagers, most of them unarmed women, children and elderly.
Tatum will play Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot who, upon realizing what was happening below, put a stop to the killing by placing his craft between gunmen and the few villagers who were left, and telling his two shipmates to fire on the soldiers if they shot any more people. They airlifted the survivors and reported the carnage to superiors.
Pinkville is the description on a military map for the region where My Lai is.
