Universal optioned the movie rights to Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin for Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman to produce through their Playtone Company, with Hanks "eyeing the project as a potential starring vehicle," according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Larson's earlier book, The Devil and the White City, "is in development by Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way shingle," THR noted.
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Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) will direct London Fields, based on the novel by Martin Amis. The Hollywood Reporter noted that film rights for the book were jointly acquired in 2000 by Tartan Films and Muse Productions, which is headed by Chris Hanley (The Virgin Suicides; American Psycho). Hanley will serve as one of the the film's producers.
"I am looking forward to this project because I have never directed a murder mystery before," said Kapur.
