Netflix is looking to pick up Aaron Sorkin's star-studded The Trial Of The Chicago 7
Netflix is apparently looking to secure another big-name project for the prestige side of its streaming library, with Variety reporting that it’s currently “negotiating a deal” to get the rights to Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7. The movie is about the seven activists who were charged with inciting a riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which lead to a showdown between protestors and police—something that Variety points out makes it a “hot-button story,” hence Netflix’s apparent enthusiasm to grab the rights.
Hot button-ness aside, The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is also notable for the ridiculous cast Sorkin has assembled, which features Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Jeremy Strong, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Frank Langella, William Hurt, Michael Keaton, Mark Rylance, and Thomas Middleditch. Given the title (and Sorkin’s whole deal), this movie is probably going to focus more on the famously dramatic trial than the violent protests, which should provide a lot of these people—especially Gordon-Levitt and Keaton, who are playing prosecutor Richard Schultz and attorney general Ramsey Clark, respectively—a lot of opportunities to make passionate speeches.
The movie, which comes from Paramount, was supposed to hit theaters for a limited run in September and then a wide release in October, but that’s (unsurprisingly) no longer the case. A Netflix release, though, will still give it a chance to come out before the presidential election. Given the questionable status of theater reopenings in this country, a streaming platform seems like they only way to guarantee that anyway.