Kill The Messenger is not a completely new project, but at least now we know that Jeremy Renner will definitely star in it. Director Michael Cuesta is standing behind the project which is based on the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb, and as you already guess – Renner is attached to play the lead. Check out the rest of this report for more details about the whole thing.
So, at this moment we know that Cuesta will direct the thriller from a script by Peter Landesman, based on the two books: Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, by Webb, and Nick Schou's Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb.
As we mentioned above – Renner is attached to star as Webb, a San Jose Mercury News reporter who committed suicide after being the target of a smear campaign when he linked the CIA to a scheme to arm Contra rebels in Nicaragua and import cocaine into California.
According to THR:
In a series of 1996 articles for the San Jose Mercury News, Webb detailed how the CIA had effectively allowed the Contras to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. and use the proceeds to fund their war against the Nicaraguan government in the 1980s. TheMercury News ultimately backed down from the story, ending Webb's career. Webb was found dead in 2004.
At the end of this report, let us also add that Renner and Don Handfield will produce the project via their production company The Combine together with Scott Stuber, and that Kill the Messenger is set to begin production this summer.
For more details on this project – make sure you stay tuned!
