Greg Berlanti to Direct Rock Hudson Biopic for Universal

Universal Pictures has optioned 'All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson' by Mark Griffin.


Rock Hudson, the Hollywood screen icon whose death in the 1980s put a mainstream face on the growing AIDS crisis, is getting the big-screen biopic treatment.


Universal Pictures has optioned All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson by Mark Griffin with plans of turning it into a film to be directed by Greg Berlanti, the prolific showrunner and creator who recently helmed the high school-set gay tale Love, Simon.


Berlanti will also produce along with his Berlanti Productions president Sarah Schechter. Sherry Marsh (Vikings) of Marsh Productions and Entertainment will also produce.


Hudson led a glamorous but ultimately tragic life. On the surface he was one of Tinseltown's heartthrobs, but he lived in fear of the discovery of his gay lifestyle.


Hudson, who began his career as a Universal contract player, broke out in the 1950s with classics Magnificent Obsession and All that Heaven Allows, both of which were directed by melodrama maestro Douglas Sirk, as well as Giant, which earned him and co-star James Dean Oscar nominations. He was at the height of his career in the early '60s when he starred with Doris Day in a trio of frothy Universal romantic comedies starting with 1959's Pillow Talk.