In a pre-Cannes move, Hilary Swank and Tom Wilkinson have come on board “Denial,” which is based on Deborah E. Lipstadt’s book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier.”

Participant Media developed the project with BBC Films and they are in discussions to co-finance. Alison Thompson is handling international sales and will introduce “Denial” at Cannes.

David Hare (“The Reader”) has adapted the book. It recounts Lipstadt’s legal battle against David Irving, who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. Because the English legal system puts the burden of proof on the accused, Lipstadt and her legal team had to prove that the Holocaust actually happened and that Irving had manipulated data to make history vanish.

Mick Jackson (“Temple Grandin”) is directing. Producers are Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff under their Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment banner alongside Shoebox Films.

Swank is represented by CAA and Wilkinson by Lou Coulson Associates and Larry Taube. Jackson is repped by Equitable Stewardship for Artists and Hare is repped by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.

Source: http://variety.com/