Director Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity) and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire) are teaming to re-create the 1971 Attica state prison uprising, says The Hollywood Reporter. The confrontation between prisoners and guards took four days.
Liman also will produce Attica with David Bartis under their Hypnotic company along with Elliot Abbott (Awakenings, A League of Their Own), who is financing the development. Avrum Ludwig also will produce.
Liman’s father, the late Arthur Liman, served as chief counsel to the New York State Special Commission on Attica Prison and co-authored the commission’s report chastising then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and prison authorities for their role in the incident, during which 32 inmates and 10 hostages were killed, 39 of them during an assault by state police.
Liman and Fletcher recently visited Attica prison for research and you can read Liman’s interesting Blog on the experience here.
