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The movie spotlighting the Westboro Baptist Church has gotten a director and it’s Marc Webb of The Amazing Spider-Man and The Gifted.
The film, titled This Above All, will focus on the Westboro Baptist Church, one of the most recognized hate groups in America. They are deeply rooted in homophobic rhetoric and are even so bad as to protest funerals for fallen soldiers of the American military.
The story however will focus on Megan Phelps-Roper, played by Reese Witherspoon. Phelps-Roper was sort of the heir to the Westboro Baptist Church. She is the granddaughter of the founder, Fred Phelps, and became a powerful voice for the organization.
That said, after joining Twitter to extend the voice of the church, Phelps-Roper found herself confronted with people of differing viewpoints. After talking to them for some time, she began to question her faith.
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Later, she and her younger sister fled from the church and were disowned by their family.
The script for this story will be an adaption by Nick Hornby who wrote the original article about Phelps-Roper for the New Yorker and wrote the memoir for her as well.
“Megan’s extraordinary story says so much about so many things in contemporary America, and I’m really excited about this project,” said Hornby. “I’m looking forward to working with the brilliant Marc Webb, CNÉ and with my friends Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea and River Road, with whom I enjoyed such a good relationship during the making of ‘Wild.”
We’re just happy to know that the film will depict a true and telliing look at both the inside of the church and also the hateful cruelty they can inflict upon those outside of it.
