Movies News

Michael Mann and Sony plan Litvinenko film

By Stone Martindale Jan 15, 2007, 4:35 GMT

Michael Mann attends as the Museum of the Moving Image salutes Will Smith. This being the Museum\'s, 22nd annual gala held in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria, which will air on Bravo 01/12/07. Photo Credit: Anthony G. Moore/Photorazzi 12/03/2006 - Michael Mann - Museum of the Moving Images Tribute to Will Smith - Waldorf Astoria - New York, NY © Anthony G. Moore / Photorazzi

Sony Pictures has revealed that filmmaker Michael Mann is attached to produce and direct a "wide-ranging espionage thriller" about the incident based on the forthcoming book "Death of a Dissident" by Litvinenko's close friend Alexander Goldfarb, reports the Hollywood Reporter, days after Johnny Depp and Warner Bros. had announced their intentions on the same subject matter.

Goldfarb was key in aiding Litvinenko's defection from Russia to England. Litvinenko died of Polonium radiation poisoning in London in November under a cloak of interwoven mystery, heresay and circumstances that many see as the basis for an international spy movie says The Hollywood Reporter.

The HR reports Sony has also has acquired the life rights for Litvinenko's widow Marina, and says their film will dissect "the collision between the deep-rooted Russian power structure -- enforced by the KGB and its successor, the FSB -- and the new wave of wild west capitalism that came on the heels of glasnost".