It didn't look great for Aaron Sorkin's latest writing/directing gig, The Trial Of The Chicago 7 last December. The film, which had been beset by delays and filmmaker changes in development, had once again shut down despite starting the casting and pre-production process. Now, though, it appears to be back on, with Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Alex Sharp all joining the cast.
Based on Brett Morgen's documentary Chicago 10, the film follows the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy, arising from the counterculture protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The trial transfixed the nation and sparked a conversation about mayhem intended to undermine the US government.
Rogen is on to play Jerry Rubin, Gordon-Levitt's playing Richard Schultz and Sharp will be Rennie Davis in a movie that already includes Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Jonathan Majors.
"I’m thrilled to be making a movie about one of one of the craziest, funniest, most intense, most tragic and most triumphant trials in American history. C-7 may take place in the late ’60s, but there’s no better time to tell this story than today," Sorkin says in a statement. Amblin is producing the film, and the rights will be on sale at the European Film Market in Berlin next week, in an attempt to defray some of the budget and ease potential distributors' concerns.
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