Quickie…
Variety are reporting the following…
MILAN — Adrien Brody and Natalie Portman have been offered roles in a biopic of war photographer Robert Capa, written and to be directed by Menno Meyjes (“Max”).
“Capa,” set to shoot in April, is a co-production between Andras Hamori’s H2O Motion Pictures and Pandora Intl., which is handling worldwide sales.The movie will focus on the relationship between Capa and the woman he loved, fellow photog Gerda Taro, during the Spanish Civil War.
Capa was born Endre Friedman in Budapest, but decided to reinvent himself as an American playboy snapper when he met Gerda Pohorylles in 1930s Paris. Armed with a magazine contract and new names, they traveled to Spain to cover the war.
Capa’s picture of a soldier at the moment of being shot became the defining image of the conflict. Taro was killed during the siege of Madrid.
“Capa and Taro were lovers and fellow photographers,” Meyjes said. “Their images took the heroism out of the war itself and returned it to the people that fought in them.”
Hamori will produce the pic with Pandora prexy Hunt Lowry. Peter Guber and Pandora exec veep Shebnem Askin are exec producers.
“Capa was the first war correspondent to be embedded with the military,” Hamori said. “His images of at least four wars immortalized his name in the photo history of the 20th century.”
Capa was killed at 40 in 1954 in what was then Indochina when he stepped on a mine.
Brody, an Oscar winner last year for “The Pianist,” is the son of Hungarian-born photojournalist Sylvia Plachy.
“This is a very passionate story and we are fortunate to have an equally passionate creative team behind the production, particularly with such a talented writer-director as Menno,” Lowry said. Capa’s story has long intrigued filmmakers, with Disney and Intermedia among companies that have tried to develop movies about his life in recent years.
More later…