It seems that the Meryl Streep-Tom Hanks-Stephen Spielberg collaboration will be happening sooner than we thought! The Post, which focuses on The Washington Post’s role in uncovering evidence in 1971 of the Pentagon Papers, is being made a priority project by all three artists. Deadline reported that both actors and the director have cleared their schedules so that they may begin filming the picture in May, attempting to ensure that The Post will be an awards contender in 2018. Spielberg has even pushed back the start date of The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara just to make the film happen.

In the historical drama, Hanks will portray Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, and Streep will portray publisher Kay Graham. The film will follow the two journalists, who worked with The New York Times to publicize the ‘pentagon papers’, which clarified to the American public the political and military involvement of the U.S. in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. Ironically, Jason Robards won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1977 for portraying Ben Bradlee in All the President’s Men (and even more ironically, in real life, Ben Bradlee’s son was part of the Boston Globe team that uncovered pedophile Catholic priests in the Boston area, the basis for the critically-acclaimed 2014 film Spotlight).

The announcement of the three powerhouses collaborating was partially due to the fact that Hanks and Streep have never before starred in a film together, so The Post marks their first collaboration. This is the fifth film collaboration between Spielberg and Hanks, with the other films being Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), and Bridge of Spies (2015). This is the first time Streep will have an onscreen role in a film directed Steven Spielberg, being that the only other time Streep has worked with Spielberg was when she did voice-over work for A.I. Artificial Intelligence in 2001.

This is the first produced work for screenwriter Liz Hannah. Only a decade ago, she was working as a production assistant on ABC’s hit series Ugly Betty. The film will be produced by Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks, Pascal Pictures, and Star Thrower Entertainment.

If The Post does indeed make it in time for the 2018 awards season, it will be up against films such as:

• Christopher Nolan’s WWII film Dunkirk, starring Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, and Cillian Murphy
• Kathryn Bigelow’s untitled film about the 1967 Detroit riots, starring John Krasinski, John Boyega, and Kaitlin Never
• Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled film about a 1950s London dressmaker, starring Daniel Day Lewis
• Alexander Payne’s comdey/drama Downsizing, starring Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Alec Baldwin, and Neil Patrick Harris
• Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s historical drama Current War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon
• Adam McKay’s ‘Dick Cheney’ film
• Dee Rees’ post-WWII racial prejudice drama Mudbound starring Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, and Carey Mulligan
• Luca Guadagnino’s gay love story Call Me By Your Name, starring Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet

Stay tuned for more updates on The Post.