Eddie Redmayne in Talks to Join Aaron Sorkin's THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

Actor Eddie Redmayne ("Fantastic Beasts") is in early talks to star in "The Trial of the Chicago 7," according to Variety.

Aaron Sorkin will write and direct the film. He made his debut as director with 2017's "Molly's Game." Sacha Baron Cohen is also in talks to join.

Based on Brett Morgen's documentary "Chicago 10," the film follows the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy, arising from the counterculture protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The trial transfixed the nation and sparked a conversation about mayhem intended to undermine the U.S. government.

Redmayne will play Tom Hayden, the co-founder of the Students for a Democratic Society, who was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and radical intellectual activist in the 1960s, authoring the Port Huron Statement and eventually standing trial in the Chicago Seven case.

Prior to being cast in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," Redmayne won an Oscar for playing theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything."

"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" opens on Nov. 16.

Read the original story on Variety.