20th Century Fox is developing an adaptation ofDavid Willman’s non-fiction bookThe Mirage Man: Bruce Ivins, the Anthrax Attacks, and America’s Rush to War, Collider has learned.
Steve Zaillianwill produce via his Film Rites banner along with Anova Pictures principalCybill Lui, whose feature credits includeAfter the Darkand theNicolas CagemoviePay the Ghost.
The Mirage Manchronicles the true story of the 2001 anthrax attacks, which began on Sept. 18 – exactly one week after 9/11 – and continued over a period of three weeks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two U.S. Senators (Tom Daschleof South Dakota andPatrick Leahyof Vermont), ultimately killing five people and infecting 17 others. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became “one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement.”
The perpetrator turned out to beBruce Edwards Ivins, a scientist who worked at the government’s biodefense labs at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. He first became a suspect in April 2005, and two years later, he was put on periodic surveillance. Ivins (pictured below)committed suicide in July 2008, and one week later he was declared the sole culprit after DNA evidence linked him to the anthrax attacks. The FBI formally closed its investigation in February 2010, though the National Academy of Sciences released a report the following year that cast doubt on the government’s conclusion, and some information related to Ivins' mental problems remains under seal.
To say this harrowing true story could make for an excellent manhunt thriller would be an understatement, especially in Zaillian’s hands. He may not be writing the script this time around, but I was a big fan of the last film he produced,Red Sparrow, as well as his HBO seriesThe Night Of. Zaillian has written some of the biggest and best movies of all time, such asSchindler’s List,Moneyball,American GangsterandThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, as well asGangs of New YorkandThe Irishmanfor Martin Scorsese, so he knows a good story when he sees one.
Zaillian is represented by WME and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, and I’m looking forward toMy Dinner With Hervé, the HBO movie he executive produced starringJamie DornanandPeter Dinklage.
