in development

HBO and Tina Brown Are Making a Norman Mailer Film

(FILES) File picture of US writer Norman Mailer addressing the media, 19 May 1987 in Cannes during a press conference as member of the jury of the 40th Cannes film festival. Norman Mailer, famed for his first novel
(FILES) Undated file picture of late provocative US writer Norman Mailer, famed for his first novel “The Naked and the Dead,” who died overnight at the age of 84, US media reported , 10 November 2007. Mailer’s first novel shot him to literary fame at the tender age of 25 when it hit the top of the New York Time’s best-seller list. He remained a top literary figure for nearly 60 years, publishing his last book, “The Castle in the Forest,” just a few months ago. AFP PHOTO STR/FILES (B/W ONLY) (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images) Photo: STF/2007 AFP

HBO is developing a movie about Norman Mailer’s relationship with imprisoned murderer Jack Abbott, who assisted the author with the 1980 Pulitzer-winning nonfiction work The Executioner’s Song. Abbott in turn received Mailer’s support for his own book, In the Belly of the Beast, as well as an ill-fated parole that resulted in another murder. Stephen Schiff (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) will script the film and Tina Brown will executive produce — a first for the Daily Beast and Newsweek editor.

HBO and Tina Brown Making a Norman Mailer Film