Donnersmarck takes the ’28th Amendment’

Following in the path of 2005’s Best Foreign Picture Oscar winning director Gavin Hood (he would go from Tsosti to Rendition), it is now Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck‘s turn to take on what will be a huge Hollywood project if Tom Cruise decides to finally make this project among his acting gigs for 2009.
Donnersmarck’s debut film The Lives of Others was easily one of the best finds of 2006 and since then the German filmmaker has been weighing his options not rushing into anything – a mistake just about every director in his position would make.

The studio (WB) drama would actually touch upon similar terrain, described as “The Firm” set in the White House. The 28th Amendment proves that for a large part of the 20th century, the president has been the puppet of a small, lethal gang that kills anyone who defies its wishes (JFK did and paid the price, according to one iteration of the script). Donnersmarck would take over the reigns for a project which has been in the works since 99′ and saw Neil Jordan, Kevin MacDonald and Philip Noyce all connected to the project.

Variety reports that scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the duo that originated the project as a spec in 1999, are rewriting the script. Basil Iwanyk and Richard Donner are producers.