Ingrid Betancourt’s abduction by the FARC is to form the basis of two new Hollywood films, reports Hollywood Reporter.
One will be based on Betancourt’s own account of her six years in the jungle, while the other will focus on the plight of her husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, as he struggled to deal with his wife’s imprisonment.
The Kennedy/Marshall Co. won the filming rights to Betancourt’s biography, “Even Silence has an End,” for which Betancourt signed a $1 million deal in 2008 with Penguin Press. Work is now in progress to re-write the story into a screenplay based on the book.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan-American director Bett Kaplan is planning a film project from the perspective of two books written by Lecompte, “In Search of Ingrid” and “Ingrid and Me: A Sweet and Sour Freedom,” which focus on Lecompte’s search for his wife.
“I’ve never seen a man fight so hard for his wife’s freedom and existence for seven years,” Kaplan said according to Hollywood Reporter.
Following Betancourt’s release, their marriage ended quickly, however, as accusations of infidelity allegedly flew from both sides.
“It made me angry how she treated her husband from the moment she descended from the helicopter,” Kaplan told Hollywood Reporter.
Kaplan did not win the rights to Lecompte’s latest book which describes the breakdown of the marriage.
In the wake of a messy divorce, Lecompte attempted to seize some of the royalties from Betancourt’s book and to freeze her Colombian assets.
In July Betancourt sought compensation of $6.6 million from the Colombian government, but later withdrew the request following a public outcry.