Liev Schreiber to Star in Adaptation of Hemingway’s ‘Across the River and Into the Trees’

Liev Schreiber is attached to star in a big-screen adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel “Across the River and Into the Trees,” Tribune Pictures and The Exchange announced Monday. The film will be introduced to buyers through The Exchange at the TIFF 2020 virtual market.

The film will start production in October in Venice, Italy, and the Veneto region under COVID-19 guidelines.

“Across the River and Into the Trees” was written by Hemingway in 1950 and spent seven weeks atop the New York Times best-seller list. It was initially serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine.

Schreiber will play Colonel Richard Cantwell, a semi-autobiographical character partially based on Hemingway’s friend Colonel Charles T. Lanham, a complex and conflicted character, wounded and damaged both physically and mentally by World War II who seeks inner peace and tries to come to terms with his own mortality.

Joining Schreiber are Italian actors Matilda De Angelis, Laura Morante and Giancarlo Giannini, and Spanish actor Javier Cámara. Additional cast will be announced shortly.

Spanish director Paula Ortiz will direct from a script by BAFTA Award winner Peter Flannery. Javier Aguirresarobe will serve as director of photography, with Benjamin Fernandez as production designer.

Robert MacLean of Tribune Pictures is producing. John Smallcombe and Ken Gord are also producing, William J. Immerman is executive producer. Andrea Biscaro is Italian line producer.

Schreiber is repped by Untitled Entertainment and UTA.