According to Variety, Elle Fanning (20th Century Women) is being eyed to star as Patty Hearst in James Mangold’s (Logan) next project. Based on the Jeffrey Toobin bestseller American Heiress; the film is as yet untitled. Mangold co-wrote the screenplay with Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander. Mangold will produce the film along with Nina Jacobsen and Brad Simpson of Colorforce. Twentieth Century Fox is backing the film through its Fox 2000 label.
Hearst, granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, was a 19 year-old Berkeley sophomore when she was kidnapped in 1974 by a left-wing terrorist group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army. She later came to sympathize with her captors and joined them, committing crimes alongside them including bank robberies. She became a fugitive from justice, was arrested, tried, and found guilty of bank robbery. Her sentence was commited by President Jimmy Carter and she was pardoned by President Bill Clinton. Toobin’s book captures the details of her story.
Fanning’s breakout role was in J.J. Abrams’ 2011 sci-fi Super 8, for which she received a Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival. She played Aurora in 2014’s Maleficent and was in last year’s 20th Century Women and The Neon Demon. She will star as Mary Shelley in the biopic of the same name, to be released July 6, 2018.
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