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Michael Mann Developing Biopic on Photographer Robert Capa

by Alex Billington
October 5, 2009

Columbia Pictures and director Michael Mann will team to tell the story of renowned war photographer Robert Capa, with a focus on his two-year romance with fellow photog Gerda Taro during the Spanish Civil War. The story begins in Paris in 1935, where Capa, a refugee from Hungary, met Taro, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War a year later began Capa's emergence as the most renowned war photographer ever and established Taro as the first frontline female battle photographer. She was killed in the Battle of Brunete in 1937; Capa was shattered by her death and never married after that.

Columbia has acquired the rights to "Waiting for Robert Capa," a Spanish-language novel by Spain's Susana Fortes. Screenwriter Jez Butterworth (Birthday Girl, The Last Legion) has been hired to adapt the book. Apparently Mann has wanted to make a film about Robert Capa for a while and recently discovered Fortes' novel, realizing it was the perfect story. Over 4000 other photos taken by Capa and Taro during the Spanish Civil War were also recently discovered and will be on display in an exhibit next year. Mann intends to make a gritty, low-budget film and it may be his very next project following Public Enemies from earlier this year.

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