The Oslo Peace Accords between Palestine and Israel are set to be the focus of a new film adaptation coming to HBO.
The US network is producing a feature-length adaptation of JT Rogers' Tony Award-winning play, Oslo, which is centred on Arab-Israeli negotiations in the 1990s that led to the peace agreement.
The play, which debuted in 2016, tells the story of husband and wife, Mona Juul and Terje Rod-Larsen, the Norwegian diplomats who helped broker the deal between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organisation Chairman Yasser Arafat in 1993.
While based on true events, Rogers's work is also partially fictionalised, using artistic licence to explore events surrounding the landmark accords, which briefly brought hope of a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
British actress Ruth Wilson and Irish star Andrew Scott have been cast as Juul and Rod-Larsen in the adaptation, which counts Steven Spielberg among its executive producers. American actor Waleed Zuaiter, of Palestinian heritage, is also set to star in an undisclosed role, Deadline reports.
Filming is already under way in the Czech Republic's capital of Prague, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with Bartlett Sher as director.
"Recounting the remarkable feat of two diametrically opposed sides coming together to find common ground, Oslo's themes are especially pertinent, and we couldn't be more pleased to have so many revered artisans on both sides of the camera working together to bring this to life," said Tara Grace, senior vice president of HBO's programming and films.
In 2017, the stage version netted Best Play and Best Featured Actor trophies at the Tony Awards.
"My memory of seeing Oslo on the stage for the first time is still so vivid," executive producer on the HBO adaptation, Kristie Macosko Krieger added. "I felt then what I feel now – this is a powerful and necessary story for our times."
Oslo will air on HBO and stream on HBO Max next year, though no specific release date has yet been given.
