Eddie Redmayne in Talks to Star in Aaron Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7

Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne is in early talks to star in Aaron Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7, as sources tell Variety. Sorkin will write and direct Trial of the Chicago 7, the follow-up to his 2017 directorial debut Molly’s Game, for Amblin Entertainment, with Sacha Baron Cohen also in talks to join the project.

Based on an infamous 1969 trial, Trial of the Chicago 7 will follow seven defendants who were charged by the federal government with conspiracy and other charges related to countercultural protests in Chicago on the occasion of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Redmayne will play Tom Hayden, the co-founder of the Students for a Democratic Society, who in the 1960s authored the Port Huron Statement and eventually stood trial in the Chicago Seven case.

The film was originally set for director Steven Spielberg, who ultimately handed over those duties to Sorkin after he made his directorial debut with Molly’s Game.

Redmayne recently filmed The Aeronauts with his The Theory of Everything co-star Felicity Jones and up next, he’s set to return to the Wizarding World with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, out next month.