Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment is developing a movie based on Rachel Maddow’s podcast “Ultra,” which centers on the Great Sedition Trial of 1944, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.
Writers Tony Kushner and Danny Strong are discussing adapting the material into a screenplay.
According to Deadline, which first reported the news, Amblin optioned film rights to the podcast from MSNBC and Maddow’s production company Surprise Inside.
Producing are Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger for Amblin, along with Maddow and Mike Yarvitz for Surprise Inside.
According to MSNBC, the synopsis for “Rachel Maddow Presents Ultra” is as follows: Sitting members of Congress aiding and abetting a plot to overthrow the government. Insurrectionists were criminally charged with plotting to end American democracy for good. Justice Department prosecutors under crushing political pressure. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra is the all-but-forgotten true story of good, old-fashioned American extremism getting supercharged by proximity to power. When extremist elected officials get caught plotting against America with the violent ultra-right, this is the story of the lengths they will go to… to cover their tracks.
The eight-episode podcast series was produced by “The Rachel Maddow Show” producer Kelsey Desiderio and executive produced by Maddow and Yarvitz.
Maddow has consistently been the highest-rated host on MSNBC. “The Rachel Maddow Show” has been the network’s tentpole primetime show and has gained in popularity since its inception in 2008.
