Barry Levinson to Direct Elia Kazan Biopic ‘A Life’

Barry Levinson isn't done yet. According to Page Six Hollywood, the 84-year-old "Rain Man" director is attached to direct "A Life," a biopic of Elia Kazan based on the legendary filmmaker's 1988 memoir. The project hit the market today. Levinson co-wrote the screenplay with newcomer Jina Umakanthan.

The film follows Kazan's rise from Greek immigrant kid, seemingly headed for the family rug business, to the top of old Hollywood. Along the way it crosses paths with the people he worked with: Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Vivien Leigh, Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, among many more.

Page Six is already floating Sydney Sweeney as Monroe, which, given her "Euphoria" ties to Levinson's son Sam, isn't the craziest idea. A report this week even revealed that Sweeney and Monroe are ninth cousins, once removed.

Levinson worships Kazan. "There's nobody that can rival him," he tells Page Six. He hasn't spoken with Kazan's granddaughter, Zoe Kazan, whose "East of Eden" just hit Netflix this month, but he's open to it.

For some, Kazan is a traitor. In 1952, he named eight former Communist Party colleagues before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which many in Hollywood saw as a betrayal. The controversy returned in 1999, when he received an honorary Oscar. Some in the audience applauded, while others, like Nick Nolte and Ed Harris, stayed seated.

Levinson is coming off "The Alto Knights." That was very much a David Zaslav pet project. He and Levinson know each other from the Hamptons, and Zaslav personally and immediately greenlit the $50M film once he took over Warner Bros. Then came the box office. The film bombed with $3.2M domestic, one of the worst-ever starts for a big studio release. Critics gave it 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. Producer Irwin Winkler insisted it would age well over time, like "Goodfellas" did. A few months later, Variety's Owen Gleiberman even tried a full reappraisal, calling it criminally underrated.

I've always maintained Levinson's résumé is one of the more underrated in Hollywood. He was all the rage in the '80s and '90s, a go-to filmmaker for smart, adult-oriented contenders. "Diner," "The Natural," "Good Morning, Vietnam," "Rain Man," "Bugsy," "Sleepers," "Wag the Dog." That's a run most directors would kill for. But as I've written before, he hasn't directed a great theatrical film since 1997's "Wag the Dog." His best recent work has been on the small screen. A few of his HBO movies, especially 2010's "You Don't Know Jack," were quite good, and he did well-received work on Hulu's "Dopesick."

As for Kazan, few directors have a stronger run of performances on screen. He won Best Director for "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947) and "On the Waterfront" (1954), the latter giving Brando his defining role. "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) changed screen acting forever. "East of Eden" (1955) made James Dean a star. "A Face in the Crowd" (1957) feels more relevant every year. "Splendor in the Grass" (1961) was Beatty’s breakout.