Chris Pine to Star as Walter Cronkite in Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s ‘Newsflash’

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (The Current War: Director’s Cut) has found his next project, and it sounds like award bait. Greg Silverman’s Stampede announced today that Newsflash, from writer Ben Jacoby’s Black List script, will star Chris Pine (Hell or High Water) as none other than Walter Cronkite!

Here’s an official story summary:

NEWSFLASH takes place on November 22nd, 1963, when Walter Cronkite put everything on the line to get the story right as a president was killed, a frightened nation wept, and television came of age.

Image via YouTube/CBS Sunday Morning

The president in question is John F. Kennedy, of course. His assassination in Dallas rocked the country, but for Cronkite, it would be a pivotal moment in broadcast news history, establishing him as the “most trusted man in America.” His voice would then narrate the space race, the Watergate scandal, the Iran hostage crisis, the Vietnam War, and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and John Lennon in the homes of millions of Americans.

Said Gomez-Rejon of the proect:

“Ben’s script beautifully captured what it felt like to be in the newsroom on that fateful day. I see it as an origin story about a hero born at a time when seeking the truth and uniting a country was more important than winning and ratings, which has never felt more prescient.”

This movie could further establish Gomez-Rejon as one of the industry’s most sought-after directors. After his excellent Me and Earl and the Dying Girl in 2015, he salvaged The Current War into a formidable film by re-cutting it and filming several additional scenes. On the horizon, he’s got Hunters, a series about a new Nazi uprising in 1977 New York and those intent on stopping it. That one stars Al Pacino.

When one thinks of Walter Cronkite, Chris Pine is probably not the first actor that comes to mind as his doppelgänger. Pine is younger than Cronkite was in 1963, and they bear almost no resemblance other than their shared species. Transforming Pine into the legendary newsman will be a sight to behold.

Producing alongside Silverman (North Hollywood) will be Gideon Yu (Alice), Lisa Zambri (Shot Caller) Jonathan Lim, and Adam  (Prisoners).

Production is scheduled to begin next February in New York City.

Morbid fact: in addition to Kennedy, theologian/writer C.S. Lewis and author Aldous Huxley also died on November 22, 1963.