Anthony Hopkins will star as Ernest Hemingway in "Papa," to be directed by Roger Donaldson.
Donaldson said the film will be based on Hemingway's encounter with Denne Bart Petitclerc, America's youngest war correspondent in the Korean War, who was inspired by how Hemingway reported on the Spanish Civil War.
"Hemingway invited him to Havana for some weekends, and the movie is really about what happens when he goes there," Donaldson told New Zealand's Dominion Post newspaper in Tuesday's editions. "It's a thriller, it's a love story, it's Hemingway as he falls apart and is suicidal. This guy was a witness to it all."
"It's a pretty ambitious movie for what it is ... Hemingway is a great writer and a great character. If anybody can play Hemingway, Tony Hopkins can," Donaldson said.
In researching the movie, Donaldson said he visited Hemingway's Havana home and met Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
"Papa" will be an independent film, Donaldson said. He is still working to secure financing.
The director was in Wellington to promote "The World's Fastest Indian," also starring Hopkins, which will be in New Zealand theaters next week.