Denzel Reads 'A Journal for Jordan'

Another Iraq piece is in the works

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Monday, October 8th 2007 at 2:33 AM

During the junket for Reservation Road screenwriter and novelist John Burnham Schwartz revealed that he is currently working on a script for Denzel Washington adapted from a piece titled "From Father to Son, Last Words to Live By" written by "New York Times" journalist Dana Canedy.

The movie is currently titled A Journal for Jordan and is based on the true story of Canedy's husband, Charles M. King, who was a soldier in Iraq and was killed last year leaving behind a 7-month-old son and a 200-page journal in the case that he would not be able to raise him. Denzel will play the soldier and will reportedly produce the project.

Based on the subject matter of Schwartz's Reservation Road, which he adapted from his own novel of the same name, he tells us, "It's another cheery story," and laughs.

You can check out the piece Canedy wrote right here, but here is a little snippet:

Dear son, Charles wrote on the last page of the journal, “I hope this book is somewhat helpful to you. Please forgive me for the poor handwriting and grammar. I tried to finish this book before I was deployed to Iraq. It has to be something special to you. I’ve been writing it in the states, Kuwait and Iraq.

The book "A Journal for Jordan: Hopes, Prayers, and Life Lessons from a Fallen Soldier and the Woman He Loved for the Son He Left Behind" written by Canedy is set to hit bookshelves April 15, 2008.

The big question with this film however, may be whether or not a studio seriously backs another Iraq War film after the recent lackluster performance of Universal's The Kingdom and the upcoming rash of Iraq War themed films including Lions for Lambs and Redacted.

Reservation Road hits theaters on October 19.