A little under two months ago we had an update about a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Tracy Letts, who was writing an adaption of a “true crime story” for Natalie.

I assumed it was Isabella V but a source told me that it was something else. That something else was unknown…until now.

Super sleuth Spoonbat found the true identity of the project in this Hollywood Reporter article about new innovative ways to sell a project to studios.

More after the jump…

Lucy Stille, who heads the literary-rights department at Paradigm, recently represented “The Fabulous Fraudulent Life of Jocelyn & Ed,” an article that appeared in Rolling Stone about modern grifters that she felt was a surefire movie idea. Before going to studios, she gave it to Annette Savitch, a partner with Natalie Portman in Handsome Charlie Films.

“She loved it,” says Stille, and gave it to Tracy Letts, who wrote “August: Osage County” not long after he won a Pulitzer Prize for drama “because she knew Tracy had a deal at Warner Bros.”

“The combination of a terrific article, Natalie and Tracy got us a deal at Warner Bros.,” Stille says. “I doubt, had I just sent the article cold to Warners, I would have done that. So all of us are spending much more time trying to put the right smart pieces together. The truth is, a lot of executives at the studio level don’t have the time or inclination to do that.”

Its possible that Natalie isn’t planning to act in it but I think there’s enough of a possibility there to add it to the rumoured projects page.

If you’re interested in the story, the original Rolling Stone article can be found here.