Jonah Hill & James Franco To Star In A Bizarre 'True Story'

Jonah Hill has talked a lot during the press rounds for "Moneyball" that he believes the movie marks a new chapter in his career, a new step away from the comedy movies he became famous for. He won his first Oscar nomination for his very impressive performance in the baseball drama and clearly enjoyed his time collaborating with his new found friends. So much so that he is teaming with a few of them again on another fact-based drama... Deadline reports that Hill will star as former New York Times journalist Michael Finkel in his own memoir "True Story", a tale about his strange and unwanted relationship with murderer Christian Longo. In the rather crazy story, Congo was a FBI Top Ten listed wanted man for murdering his family but when he was arrested in Mexico he was living under the name of Michael Finkel, the very same name as the journalist. When the real Finkel wrote about the story for the New York Times in 2002 he was fired by his editor for making up facts in the story. Post-firing the real Finkel went out to speak to Longo to find the real truth of why he used his name. Strangely Congo would only speak to Finkel and no other press as he tried to declare his innocence! James Franco (an Apatow member I don't believe Hill has ever worked with) would play Longo in the movie to be produced by Brad Pitt, and believe it or not Billy Beane, the author and character at the center of Moneyball, is also producing. Rupert Goold, director of the forthcoming Richard II adaptation starring Patrick Stewart that is coming to television, will direct his first ever feature film. Financing hasn't quite come together for the Plan B project but come on... it's Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, two big names and Oscar nominees for a movie they did together as recent as this year behind it. This one won't have a problem. True Story was previously setup at Paramount. The full title of Finkel's biography is "True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa" and the official synopsis is below;

On February 2002, New York Times Magazine writer Michael Finkel received a startling piece of news: a young man named Christian Longo, wanted for killing his entire family, had been captured in Mexico, where he'd taken on a new identity: Michael Finkel of the New York Times. The next day, on page A-3 of the Times, came another troubling item: a note from the editors explaining that Finkel, having falsified parts of an investigative article, had been fired. Nonetheless, the only journalist Longo would speak with was the real Michael Finkel, and so Finkel placed a call to Oregon's Lincoln County jail, intent on getting the true story. So began a bizarre and intense relationship€”a reporting job that morphed into a shrewd game of cat-and-mouse. Part mystery, part memoir, part mea culpa, True Story weaves a spellbinding tale of murder, love, and deceit with a deeply personal inquiry into the slippery nature of truth.