A biopic about Ida Tarbell is on the way. Amazon has acquired “Ida Tarbell,” a 2015 Black List script about the pioneering investigative journalist, Deadline writes.
The influential writer rose to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century. The former science teacher’s controversial 1904 book, “The History of the Standard Oil Company,” was identified by NYU as one of the top 100 works of 20th century American journalism.
A director hasn’t been named yet. Deadline reports that the script, written by Mark McDevitt, “follows Tarbell as she digs into the Rockefeller oil empire through public documents to unearth the truth behind Standard Oil. [John D.] Rockefeller would find himself against a formidable foe, the 45-year-old teacher and journalist Tarbell, who later also would pen a profile of the businessman. Tarbell’s exposé ended up not only changing the way others thought about journalism but also put a microscope on Rockefeller’s vast empire.”
Tarbell graduated from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania — she was the only woman in the class of 1880. Despite her unconventional career path in a male-dominated field, Tarbell opposed the suffrage movement. According to PBS, she argued “that traditional female roles had been belittled by women’s rights advocates and that women’s contributions belonged in the private sphere.”
This sounds like a plumb role for an actress over 40 —and starring in a project with a strong script based on a historical figure may just lead to awards attention.
