The incredible life of Anne Frank will be celebrated by film once again in a new version of her story to be written and directed by David Mamet. Just recently, Disney acquired the rights to the story, which will be a mix of her diary, the stage adaptation of that text by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, and Mamet's own "take on the material." Variety is hinting that Mamet "could reframe the story" as a young girl's rite of passage.
For those unfamiliar with her story, Frank became an "icon of the Holocaust" when her diary that chronicled her family's two years in hiding from Nazis in World War II was published. She died at the age of 15 at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Producer Andrew Braunsberg had been working over a year on acquiring the rights to the story, both from the estate of Frank and also the estates of the two writers, Hackett and Goodrich. Mamet's name was soon suggested for the project, and he jumped at the opportunity. He is now writing the screenplay.
On the silver screen, Mamet last did Redbelt with Chiwetel Ejiofor. He will make his Broadway debut as a director when he premieres his new play entitled "Race."
Source: Variety