Katie Holmes is set to play Jill Wine-Banks, the Chicago lawyer who helped prosecute the Watergate case, in a movie.
Deadline reports the “Dawson’s Creek” star has optioned Wine-Banks’ 2020 autobiography, “The Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President,” and intends to produce and star in a big-screen film about the sexism and harassment she endured during that high-stakes crisis.
“I was drawn to this story because it is as relevant today as it was then,” Holmes said in a statement. “Women are constantly trying to break through the glass ceiling in the male workplace and this woman singlehandedly helped reshape the Watergate trial. I am constantly inspired by these strong female protagonists, and it is a world I will always want to explore.”
After graduating from the old Niles East High School in Skokie, the University of Illinois and Columbia Law School, Wine-Banks went to work for the Justice Department and was one of three Watergate assistant special prosecutors. She’s now an MSNBC legal analyst based in Chicago.
“I’m excited to be working with Katie Holmes and am both honored and humbled to have my experience as the only woman on the Watergate trial team shared on the big screen,” Wine-Banks said.
