Mary Elizabeth Winstead is the latest name to join the cast of the upcoming Kill the Messenger. Deadline brings word that the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World star will join Jeremy Renner and Rosemarie DeWitt in the true story of journalist Gary Webb, a San Jose Mercury News reporter who allegedly 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.
Peter Landesman wrote the screenplay, based on the two books the studio optioned: “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.”
Winstead, who recently headlined James Ponsoldt’s Smashed, reteams with him for this summer’s The Spectacular Now. She can also soon be seen in the Stu Zicherman comedy A.C.O.D. opposite Adam Scott, Catherine O’Hara, Jane Lynch, Richard Jenkins, Clark Duke and Amy Poehler.
Michael Cuesta is attached to direct Kill the Messenger with Scott Stuber producing.
(Photo Credit: Brian To / WENN.com)
