Steven Spielberg to Direct Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in 'The Post'

Would you believe that Meryl Streep has never appeared on-screen in a Steven Spielberg film before? She voiced the blue fairy in A.I. and is narrating the East Ender’s Netflix documentary Five Came Back (which Spielberg is producing), but Streep and Spielberg haven’t worked together nearly as much as one would expect, given their pedigree. Apparently we’re not the only ones who think so, because Deadline has just revealed that Spielberg and Streep—along with frequent Spielberg collaborator Tom Hanks—are teaming up for The Post, a film about the Washington Post’s role in exposing the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The film, which will star Hanks as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and Streep as publisher Kay Graham, is being co-financed by Fox and Amblin Entertainment and will be directed and produced by Spielberg.

The Pentagon Papers were a classified study about the Vietnam War commissioned by the Defense Department that revealed an escalation of troops and bombings in Vietnam. Controversy arose when it leaked. The idea for a film about the press exposing a dark White House secret feels timely in today’s political climate, where the press is being vilified by President Donald Trump for so-called “fake news.”

Spielberg has a long list of projects on his slate. His next film is The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, a political/religious thriller starring Oscar Isaac based on a true story, followed by Ready Player One, an adaptation of the science fiction book by Ernest Cline. He is also slated to direct an Indiana Jones film in 2019. There’s no release date yet for The Post.