According to Variety, Paramount has tapped Oscar-nommed screenwriter Keir Pearson to pen a script based on the story of Abdurahman Khadr, who was raised in Osama Bin Laden's Afghanistan compound and became a CIA informant.

The project has been set up with Vincent Newman, who acquired film rights to Khadr's story (Daily Variety, Jan. 10). Move by Paramount comes as studio chief Brad Grey and prexy Gail Berman look to place more emphasis on cutting-edge projects.

Khadr, the subject of a PBS "Frontline" documentary last year, was groomed to become a terrorist because his father was a member of Bin Laden's inner circle, but he became increasingly disillusioned with Al Qaeda as he matured. He escaped the compound after 9/11, was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and was recruited by the CIA as an informant at Guantanamo Bay and in Bosnia; he was due to be sent to Iraq before deciding to blow his cover and move to Canada.