“Inglourious Basterds” star Brad Pitt is taking a very different approach to Nazi Germany with his latest project.
The Oscar-nominated actor is currently developing a feature film based on the best-selling 2001 book “IBM and the Holocaust” by Edwin Black, a non-fiction tome that asserts the technology company’s deliberate role in helping to exterminate 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
Through in-depth analysis of the historical record, the book establishes the link between Adolf Hitler’s government and IBM – then known as International Business Machines – which allegedly resulted in the use of punch-card technology developed by the American corporation to identify Jewish individuals for ghettoization and, later, extermination.
According to exclusive-getter Vulture, the project was previously set up at HBO before exiting the cable network for unknown reasons. Pitt and his Plan B shingle are now shopping the Marcus Hinchey-penned script around town in hopes of attracting another buyer, with Pitt tentatively attaching himself to star as a lure for directing talent. Though originally envisioned as a cable telepic (as evidenced by HBO’s involvement), Pitt and co. are now leaning toward a theatrical deal.
Pitt’s next film is the crime thriller “Killing Them Softly,” which was helmed by his “Assassination of Jesse James” director Andrew Dominik. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May (review), is slated for general release on October 19.
Are you interested in seeing a film based on “IBM and the Holocaust”? Anyone read the book? Let us know in the comments.