Bobby Geisler and JohnRoberdeau, the New York producing duo who were last involved in TerrenceMalick's The Thin Red Line, haveoptioned the movie rights to Faith Of My Fathers, the best-selling Vietnam prisoner of war memoirwritten by John McCain, the high-profile US Senator for Arizona.

Written with Mark Salter,McCain's book is the story of what he learned from his grandfather andfather - both four-star admirals in the US Navy - and how theirexample helped him survive more than five years of tortuous solitaryconfinement after he was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. Upon realizingMcCain's family legacy, his captors offered McCain early release - anoffer he famously refused.

"I wrote Faith OfMy Fathers to acknowledge my firstand most important advantage in life: to have been born the son and grandson ofNavy officers," McCain said."Bobby Geisler and John Roberdeau understand why that singlebiographical fact has influenced every important decision of my life. Theirfathers had worn the uniform, too."

Geisler and Roberdeaucommented: "We are deeply honoured that Senator McCain has called on us totell the story of his family heritage and the price he paid personally as aprisoner of war in North Vietnam.Young aviator McCain resisted the temptation of an early release infavour of the love and duty he felt for his brothers-in-arms."

After a twenty-two yearcareer in the US Navy and two terms as a Congressman (1982-86), McCain waselected to the US Senate in 1986 and re-elected in 1992 and 1998, becoming oneof the primary voices advocating campaign finance reform. He challengedthen-Governor George W. Bush for the Republican Presidential ticket during thelast election.

According to an articlein the Washington Post, McCain'sown choice of actor to play his father on-screen would be Robert Duvall(another son of a naval officer), with Edward Norton on his personal wish-listto portray himself as a young aviator.

Geisler and Roberdeauhave been in partnership since 1979.Among their slate of projects are David Rabe's In the Boom Boom Room, the first fiction film to be directed byOscar-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple; Andrew Birken's J. M.Barrie Project; Desperadoes, based on the book by Ron Hansen; Whistle, James Jones' continuation of From Here ToEternity and The Thin Red Line; and a long-gestating adaptation of the D. M. Thomasnovel The White Hotel with ascreenplay by the late Denis Potter. They also are still attached to twoprojects written by Malick: an original screenplay entitled TheEnglish-Speaker and a stageadaptation of Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho The Bailiff.

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