According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mike Nichols is in discussions to direct Charlie Wilson's War for Universal Pictures. Tom Hanks is attached to star and is producing with Gary Goetzman via the duo's Playtone banner.

Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing, wrote a screenplay adaptation of War -- based on the book written by George Crile, who had been a longtime 60 Minutes producer -- for Universal Pictures and Playtone. War centers on the CIA's covert operation in Afghanistan to arm the mujahideen. The covert ops were engineered by Charlie Wilson, a charismatic, wheeler-dealer, liberal Texas congressman who teamed with a rogue CIA operative. The two manipulated Congress, the CIA and a host of foreign governments in order to assist the Afghan rebels in their fight against the Soviets in the 1980s. Many of the men armed by the CIA went on to become the Taliban's enforcers and Osama bin Laden's protectors.