Chris Pine Joins Mark Ruffallo in JFK Assassination Film ‘Newsflash’

Fresh off of his journalist role in Sam Sheridan’s I Am the Night, Chris Pine is set to play iconic CBS newsman Walter Cronkite in the upcoming JFK assassination film, Newsflash (via Deadline).

November 22, 1963, was one of America’s darkest days. President John F. Kennedy’s supposed festive motorcade turned bloody as he was assassinated right on the spot. It was a historic moment, and Cronkite was one of the most trusted voices who reported on the event. Newsflash tells the story of how television networks were in dire straits, forced to break boundaries and team up to find out the truth about JFK’s death. Cronkite was one of the leading journalists at the time.

Swift Changes to ‘Newsflash’

Pine joins Mark Ruffalo in the initial cast roster, with the latter attached to play Don Hewitt, Cronkite’s producer. Hewitt was one of the driving forces of the industry as they dealt with the assassination’s aftermath. But with Pine’s casting comes a series of shakeups. It was previously announced that Seth Rogen had the initial blessing to play Cronkite, but quickly changed after director David Gordon Green dropped out from the project to helm the Halloween sequel and an untitled drama about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Newsflash will be produced by Fred Bernstein, Adam Kolbrenner, Greg Silverman, and Dominique Telson.

Deadline says that Stampede Ventures, one of the three production companies attached to the project, is looking for a director that’s well-versed in television history. Ben Jacoby wrote the script and will follow Cronkite, Hewitt. their boss Jim Aubrey, and Dan Rather, a young reporter who was one of the first few journalists who were clamoring to find out the truth and reason behind JFK’s killing. Aubrey will act as the movie’s antagonist, who’s dead set on having CBS news take on a more sensationalist stand on JFK’s death.

Newsflash is looking at a January 2020 production start, with the movie’s release date kept under wraps for now.