Noir novelist James Ellroy has signed to write
The Man Who Kept Secrets, a biopic of Hollywood lawyer Sidney Korshak, according to Variety.
Upon his arrival from Chicago in the 1940s until his death in the 1990s, Korshak was a Hollywood powerbroker. He was a confidant of several studio heads, including Lew Wasserman at Universal and Evans when he was running Par, and negotiated corporate mergers, political deals and labor settlements behind the scenes. He became almost as renowned for his penchant for anonymity as his backroom dominance. Part of his cache was the ability to serve as a liaison between corporate titans and underworld chieftains.
Ellroy has built his career on telling tales of backroom deals in the Hollywood of yore. His novel
L.A. Confidential was adapted into the 1997 film of the same name starring Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger and Russell Crowe.
William Friedkin is set to direct for Paramount Pictures.