High-Profile ‘American Rebel’ Spec Script Sold to Amy Pascal

Amy Pascal‘s Pascal Pictures has closed major deal on Christopher Cosmos’ spec script American Rebel, according to Deadline.

The film will tell the true story of Deborah Sampson, a woman who enlisted in the American Continental Army during the Revolutionary War by disguising herself as a man. According to her bio at the National Women’s History Museum, she was able to keep up the rouse for about two years, bathing clandestinely and dodging medical treatment, even dressing her own gunshot wound, taking the bullet out of her thigh all on her own. It was not until 1783 that she was discovered after falling ill in Philadelphia and passing out at the hospital.

The film is being billed as an American tale in the same vein of Mulan. Sampson is a great feminist hero that most audiences will discover for the very first time. After being discovered as a woman, Sampson was granted honorable discharge, at which time she picked up her life, got married and started a family. Her husband received her soldier’s pension after her eventual death.

Pascal, known as Sony’s former President, has an ongoing deal with the studio that will likely see the film land there for distribution. This picture will likely be a hot sell for leading actresses across Hollywood.