During our recent webcam chat (watch the exclusive video above), Liz Hannah reveals that she was inspired to write “The Post” because at its core, it’s about a woman “finding her voice.” Directed by Steven Spielberg, the new film tells the true story of how “Washington Post” publisher Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) and editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) printed the leaked documents of the “Pentagon Papers” detailing America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The screenwriter was interested in using Kay’s coming into her own as “the backdrop of this defining moment for the paper, for her, for Ben, and for the country of publishing these papers.”
SEE Steven Spielberg movies: Every film from ‘The Post’ director ranked from worst to best
Adds “Spotlight” scribe Josh Singer, who was brought in to help work on the script after it was fast-tracked for production earlier this year, “I was frankly blown away by the story, and the way that she [Liz] had managed to tell this very important story of the fourth estate through this very personal lens of Kay Graham.” Whereas his previous journalism film was about “hunting down the story,” this one is “much more a character study than it is a procedural.”
SEE 2018 National Board of Review Awards: ‘The Post’ wins 3 including Best Picture, ‘Lady Bird’ takes 2
Singer won an Oscar for writing “Spotlight” with Tom McCarthy in 2015. He is currently working on the Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man” with Damien Chazelle. This is Hannah’s first produced feature script.
“The Post” recently won the National Board of Review awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Hanks), and Best Actress (Streep). It opens in limited release on December 22 before going wide on January 12, 2018. The film costars Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, and Matthew Rhys.
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