Claire Danes to play autistic scientist in HBO pic

[Guest guest]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081500

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Danes to play autistic scientist in HBO pic

By Borys Kit

Reuters

Friday, August 15, 2008; 3:28 AM

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Danes is in negotiations to star

in HBO's long-gestating biopic of Temple Grandin, a leading speaker on

autism, animal expert and author.

Mick , whose credits include " The Bodyguard, " the television series

" Traffic " and HBO's " Live From Baghdad, " is set to direct the film, from a

script by Monger.

Grandin overcame the limitations imposed by the disorder to become a top

scientist in the field of humane livestock handling.

High school was especially harsh for Grandin, who was called " tape recorder "

by other kids because she repeated things over and over, and she was

hypersensitive to many forms of sensory stimulation. She eventually

graduated with degrees from several universities, going on to write

influential essays on animal welfare and designing humane slaughterhouses.

She appears regularly on the news talk show circuit and was the subject of a

BBC documentary, " The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow, " and Errol ' " First

Person: Stairway to Heaven. "

Danes will play Grandin from her high school years to her post-academic

period.

The actress stars in Linklater's " Me and Orson Welles, " which

premieres in September at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter