LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The first Hollywood feature film to focus directly on the Harvey Weinstein scandal is due to start production in the summer, Universal Pictures said on Monday.

"She Said" is based on the 2019 book of the same name about the New York Times investigation into claims of sexual misconduct by Weinstein.

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan are in final negotiations to play the two journalists - Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor - who wrote the book and who won Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting in October 2017 on the story.

Some 100 women came forward with accusations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein, then one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood, after the initial stories broke in the New York Times and the New Yorker.

Weinstein, who has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone, was sentenced in New York in March 2020 to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault involving two women. He has appealed the conviction and is seeking a new trial, while also facing extradition to Los Angeles to face further charges of rape.

The "She Said" book focuses on the months of behind the scenes investigations and legal obstacles that Twohey and Kantor faced in order to publish their reports.

Although the Weinstein scandal has been the subject of several documentaries, and has inspired films and TV shows such as "The Assistant" and "The Morning Show," "She Said" is the first feature film based on the claims against the producer himself.

It will be directed by German filmmaker Maria Schrader. No expected release date was announced.

 

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Angus MacSwan)