US filmmaker Mann to direct film about killed Russian spy Litvinenko
US filmmaker Michael Mann, known for movies including "Collateral" and "Heat", will direct a film about Russian former spy Alexander Litvinenko, a foundation set up after his murder confirmed Thursday.
Mann`s version will be based on a book co-written by Litvinenko`s widow Marina, said the Litvinenko Justice Foundation, which campaigns for the truth over his agonizing death by radioactive poisoning last year.
US actor Johnny Depp is reportedly producing a separate account of his life and death.
The confirmation came on the day Marina Litvinenko`s book "Death Of A Dissident: The Poisoning Of Alexander Litvinenko And The Return Of The KGB" is released in Portugal.
"A film version of the book is being developed by Columbia Pictures and will be directed (by) Michael Mann," said the foundation, which like Litvinenko is based in London.
Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in a London hospital last November from radiation poisoning after apparently accusing Putin of involvement, a charge the Kremlin denies.
British prosecutors want to charge another former spy, Andrei Lugovoi, over the murder but Russia has refused to extradite him, prompting a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
Marina Litvinenko was in Lisbon on Thursday to press the European Union to raise the issue at an EU-Russian summit there on Friday.
The Litvinenko Justice Foundation aims to keep pressure on the British and Russian governments to bring his killer to justice.
Its founders include Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, who is exiled in London and donated 500,000 pounds (717,000 euros, one million dollars) to the foundation.
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