Deadline is reporting that three-time Academy Award-nominated director (and two-time Best Screenplay winner) Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska) is in early talks to helm Amazon Studios‘ The Burial. He is coming off the recent critical and box office flop Downsizing.
Based on the exploits of real-life Mississippi personal-injury lawyer Willie Gary, the screenplay for The Burial is by Doug Wright (Quills) and follows a case where Gary (the son of black migrant workers, who in his career became known as “The Giant Killer”) won a $200 million judgment for a small funeral home owner against a funeral parlor conglomerate in 1995.
This David vs. Goliath-style story will be produced by Jenette Kahn and Adam Richman, who originally developed the project at Warner Bros. No word on casting yet.
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