Los Angeles, June 7 (IANS) Filmmaker J.J. Abrams and actor Zachary Quinto are producing a movie about the secret love affair between two of the most popular leading men of Hollywood -- Tab Hunter and Anthony Perkins.
Titled "Tab & Tony", the Paramount drama is based on Hunter's first person account of his struggle to come to terms with his sexual orientation in 1950s Hollywood, an era in which being openly gay was taboo, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
Abrams' Bad Robot Productions and his "Star Trek" collaborator Quinto are producing, along with Allan Glaser, a studio executive turned producer who is also Hunter's longtime partner, and Neil Koenigsberg, a legendary publicist.
Writing the screenplay is Doug Wright, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his Tony-winning play "I Am My Own Wife" and also penned "Quills", the off-Broadway play that was adapted into a 2000 period drama starring Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet.
A search is underway for a director and actors to portray the two icons.
"Tab & Tony" is inspired by Hunter's 2005 memoir "Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star" -- which chronicles how the actor, a product of the studio system, ultimately rose above the pressure to conform to the boy-next-door image created for him to embrace his true identity and share his story.
Perkins, known for his iconic role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1992. Hunter will turn 87 next month.
