Kathryn Bigelow and Todd Field Developing Rival Films on P.O.W. Bowe Berghdahl

Over the last couple of weeks we've seen a rather remarkable controversy erupt over Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier recently freed by the Taliban after five years in captivity, traded for a handful of Guantanamo Bay detainees. The deal struck by President Obama has led some to actually suggest Bergdahl should have been left behind because he may have abandoned his post, or was a traitor who tried to join the Taliban, or even deeper conspiracies you can probably find by perusing Alex Jones' website. There's no doubt Bergdahl has a lot to answer for when he recovers, but for now the controversy has attracted the lure of Hollywood and two rival projects about Bergdahl are developing.

It should probably come as no surprise to learn Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal have been researching Bergdahl's story for years and are planning a film on Bergdahl's story. The duo took a lot of heat for their prior military-themed films The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. The latter film was racked by claims it was pro-torture (it really wasn't) and had some in Congress thinking Obama leaked military secrets to the filmmakers. Boal notably had to delay then rewrite the ending of Zero Dark Thirty because of Osama Bin Laden's death, and this Bergdahl situation is similarly open-ended at this point. No word on when this would shoot and if it will come after The True American, the post-9/11 drama Bigelow has Tom Hardy lined up for.

Bigelow may want to hurry because Fox Searchlight has a Bergdahl film of their own with Todd Field (Little Children) attached in some capacity. The studio has picked up the rights to the late Michael Hastings' Rolling Stone article "America's Last Prisoner Of War", which investigated the Bergdahl story. Not many details on this one yet but it's clear we'll be seeing a lot more of Bergdahl even if we shut off the cable news. [Deadline]