Logan Director & Elle Fanning Team Up For Patty Hearst Drama

It’s being reported that director James Mangold’s next project will be a film based on the true-life story of Patty Hearst, with Elle Fanning starring in the lead role. Following the huge critical and financial success of Logan earlier this year, Mangold has been subsequently linked to many upcoming movies, this Patty Hearst drama being but the latest of them.


The story of Hearst, who was the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, is one that has continually fascinated the country. In 1974 the 19 year-old student was taken from her apartment by a military-styled group of revolutionaries calling themselves the ‘Symbionese Liberation Army’. Isolated and held captive, it was only a short time later that she adopted the name ‘Tania’ and aided the group with bank robberies and planting bombs, seemingly of her own free will. However, when she was captured in 1975, she claimed that she had been coerced to behave that way. The case is often cited as a prime example of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’.


Although the story of Hearst has been filmed and written about many times, Variety is reporting that Mangold is set to direct a new cinematic dramatization of the incident, sourced from author Jeffrey Toobin’s 2016 book American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst. The movie is said to draw on the reporting and information in the book, but will not share the name and has yet to be given a title. As well as a writer, Toobin is also a lawyer and media pundit. His previous book The Run of His Life, was the inspiration for The People v. O.J. Simpson, which aired in 2016 as the first season of American Crime Story.


Mangold has only recently been linked to an adaptation of the children’s book Crenshaw, as well as a U.S. remake of the 2015 French thriller Disorder. He is currently working on the cop drama The Force with David Mamet. and he has also expressed an interest in continuing the story of X-23 from Logan, if he gets the opportunity. However, despite that busy roster and good intentions, this Patty Hearst film is apparently going to be his next project, according to Variety‘s report.


The actress linked to the role of Hearst is Fanning, and she is apparently already in talks to play her. Her recent roles in films like The Beguiled and The Neon Demon have drawn plenty of critical praise, and she also played historical author Mary Shelley in the film of the same name that opens in the UK next year. The pairing of Mangold and Fanning is intriguing, especially given the controversial real-life aspects of Patty Heart’s story, and it should at least make for interesting viewing.