Back in 1994, Sir Michael Caine starred as Joseph Stalin opposite Bob Hoskins’ Sir Winston Churchill in the TV miniseries, When Lions Roared.
The NBC production famously covered the World War 2 British Prime Minister’s 1942 summit in the Soviet Union, when he first met his Communist ally in the fight against Hitler, face to face.
Uncle Joe was desperate for Great Britain and FDR’s USA to open a second European front in the fight against Hitler, whose forces were now fiercely engaged with the Red Army at the Battle of Stalingrad.
However, the British Bulldog planned to persuade him of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa, to pierce the “soft underbelly of Europe.”
Now a film adaptation about their historic meeting is in the works from Matt Reeves, director of The Batman.
Reeves is developing the Churchill and Stalin film, for which a cast has yet to be announced, via his production company 6th & Idaho. According to Deadline, the movie will be based on a script by historian and screenwriter Simon Sebag Montefiore. The author of multiple books on Stalin and Russian history, he also penned the upcoming Young Stalin biopic starring Shogun’s Cosmo Jarvis. Upon the announcement, he said: “This movie is the culmination of a lifelong interest in Stalin and the script tells the inside story of his encounter with Churchill over just a few days, during which time the fate of the entire world hangs by a thread. We talk today about strong leaders who have complete command. In Stalin and Churchill, you have two of the very strongest leaders in history, who come together as the world is being torn apart. It is a portrait of two men and a portrait of power.”
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