Star Trek actor Chris Pine has been tapped to play legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite in Newsflash. Per Deadline, the film will follow Cronkite on November 22, 1963, the fateful day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Cronkite’s reporting of the event, a moment in which he became a voice the American people trusted with the news.
Pine will be joining Mark Ruffalo (Avengers: Endgame) in the film. Ruffalo will play Don Hewitt, Cronkite’s producer who helped search through the many rumours about JFK’s shooting. Newsflash will also delve into Cronkite and Hewitt’s conflict with their boss Jim Aubrey. Prior to JFK’s assassination, Aubrey very nearly cancelled Cronkite’s program and the entire evening newscast for something that would appeal to a wider audience. It was their reporting of that day which helped save their program.
Newsflash originally had Seth Rogen attached to play Cronkite with David Gordon Green directing, but that project fell through and Green moved on to the most recent Halloween reboot. The script has been written by Ben Jacoby (The Ravine) with Greg Silverman’s Stampede producing. The film is looking at a January start date as Stampede is now searching for a director.
Pine will be seen next summer reprising his role as Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman 1984.
