Across the Universe director Julie Taymor will helm the biopic of popular writer and feminist Gloria Steinem, Deadline reported. Apart from the Broadway production The Lion King, Taymor has also directed Frida (2002), which chronicles the life of surrealist surrealist Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
Produced by June Pictures, Steinem’s biopic will trace her rise as a powerful icon of women’s rights in America in the late 1960s. The script for the coming-of-age story has been adapted from Steinem’s memoir My Life On The Road by playwright Sarah Ruhl.
“When I read the book, it demanded that it be a film,” Taymor told Deadline. “It’s so vividly cinematic, with entertaining and complex characters and, like Gloria herself, also witty and provocative. From reluctant spokesperson to a beacon of positive change, hers is a singular journey — an American leader who can speak to us all.”
