Steven Spielberg’s The Post Casts Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep

While director Steven Spielberg has worked with the duo before, this will be the first time all three will be under the same banner. As Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep have been cast in the upcoming drama The Post. Written by Liz Hannah and co-financed by 20th Century Fox and Spielberg's own Amblin Entertainment, the feature will mark the first time the male and female superstars will link up officially.

Hanks has had the pleasure of performing for a Spielberg picture no less than four times prior to this announcement. Starting with 1998's Saving Private Ryan to Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and 2015's Bridge of Spies. Academy Award winner Streep has only partaken in one venture with the infamous filmmaker, doing some voiceover work in the role of the blue fairy for the 2001 installment A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.

Story To Focus On Press vs Government Battle

White House Press Briefing

If political thrillers based on journalistic ethics are not your cup of tea, then The Post is probably one to avoid. This biopic of sorts will center around the Washington Post's involvement in the Pentagon Papers. Portraying the battle between Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Kay Graham over their dealings with the US government.

Hanks will take on the role of Bradlee as Streep will do likewise for Graham, giving the best in the business the chance to showcase the struggle between the freedom of the press and the Whitehouse's desire to keep confidential information under lock and key. The timing and relevance of this story could not arrive at a more poignant time, as the Trump administration continues to rally about the biased press. And going as far as to call major outlets "fake news."

One Key Casting Position Still Left Vacant

One of the story's main protagonists, Daniel Ellsberg, has yet to be cast by Spielberg. As the former military analyst was one of the first whistleblowers in American political history to call out the lies that were being spun during the Vietnam War. Ellsberg was the man behind the leaking of the classified study commissioned by the Department of Defense, detailing facts about increased bombings and troop escalation that was kept hidden.

This move by Ellsberg would be a major blow to President Lyndon B. Johnson, as The New York Times published the leaks. After an injunction was put out to stop the NYT using the material, it would be Bradlee and the Washington Post that took the story to greater lengths with a 47-volume study.

Source: MovieWeb

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