According to Variety, Rod Lurie is set to direct Hate (A Love Story), a movie based on the twisted hate-mongers of the Westboro Baptist Church. Specifically, the movie revolves around the aftermath of the death of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who died while serving in Iraq and whose funeral was protested by the group with various homophobic signs. Snyder’s father, Al Snyder, sued the church and eventually took the case to the Supreme Court, which ended up ruling against him. The movie will also detail the fact that Al Snyder is gay and that his partner was fighting cancer during the legal battle, neither of which came up during the prolonged court case.
Hate (A Love Story) is the second Westboro Baptist Church movie to go into development this year, with Marc Webb announcing a film called This Above All back in August. That movie is based on the life of Megan Phelps-Roper, the granddaughter of the group’s founder, who was a dedicated believer in its hateful teachings until she started interacting with people on social media and realized how fucked up it all was.