A few weeks ago, Tom Hanks (New Line Cinema) purchased rights to Ben MacIntyre’s new biography of the colorful conman and World War II double agent Eddie Chapman, Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love and Betrayal. They edged out Warner Brothers, in a short auction, in a seven-figure deal. Hanks and Gary Goetzman of Playtones will produce.
MacIntyre is author of several popular histories, including The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief, and Forgotten Fatherland: The Search for Elisabeth Nietzsche. Agent Zigzag, published by Harmony Books, draws on many newly declassified MI5 files and hit bookstores in the United States in September.