EXCLUSIVE: Liz Hannah has been set to adapt and make her feature directorial debut on Under Another Name, the upcoming Alexandra Andrews debut novel bought late last year by Universal Pictures for producers Chris Morgan Productions & Pascal Pictures. It’s the latest big step for the screenwriter who came out of AFI and made a high-profile debut with the spec script The Post, which became the Steven Spielberg-directed drama starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in the drama about the Washington Post‘s role in exposing the Pentagon Papers.

Hannah is currently executive producer on Hulu’s upcoming limited series The Drop Out, and writer-producer on Season 2 of Netflix’s Mindhunter, for which she was nominated for a WGA Award earlier this year. In 2017, Hannah was awarded the WGA Paul Selvin Award for The Post, and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

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Under Another Name is described as a timely psychological thriller about ambition. It is tentatively set for publication in March 2021 by Little Brown in the U.S., Tinder Press in the UK, and will be published in a dozen languages around the world.

Morgan, whose credits include the Fast & Furious franchise and Bird Box, and Ainsley Davies will produce through their Universal-Based Chris Morgan Productions alongside Amy Pascal. Pascal is coming off the Best Picture Oscar nominee Little Women, as well as Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It was Pascal who started Hannah’s run when she bought The Post as a spec script.

Alexandra Andrews Courtesy

“Collaborating with Amy on The Post was a life-changing experience,” Hannah said. “And I couldn’t imagine my directorial debut being with any other producer. I’m honored to bring Alexandra’s unforgettable novel to the screen, and I can’t wait to kick off this next chapter with Amy and Rachel, Chris and Ainsley, and the team at Universal.”

SVP Production Sara Scott and creative executive Christine Sun will oversee the project for Universal.

Hannah is represented by UTA, Echo Lake Entertainment and Jackoway Austen.