Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks to Star in Spielberg-Directed Pentagon Papers Movie

Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks will star in a Steven Spielberg-directed film about the Washington Post's role in exposing the Pentagon Papers, Deadline reports.

The film comes at an interesting time as leaks in President Donald Trump's administration have been rampant since he took office in late January.

The Pentagon Papers was the name given to a secret Department of Defense report of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The study, which revealed unreported details about an escalation of troops and bombings in what looked to be an unwinnable war, was leaked to the New York Times by military analyst Daniel Ellsberg.

The Times was only able to publish three articles before the government secured a temporary restraining order against further publication.

The Post joined forces with the Times to fight the court battle, which climbed all the way to the Supreme Court. Writer Liz Hannah wrote the script for "The Post," which focuses heavily on how Post editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Kay Graham challenged the government.

Streep, who is coming off an Oscar nominee for her role in the movie "Florence Foster Jenkins," will play Graham while Hanks will play Bradlee.

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