But the big question is whether Oscar-winning “Milk” star Sean Penn will close a deal to play Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Penn is negotiating, but no deal has closed.Pohlad has a strong relationship with Penn: he was a producer on the Terrence Malick-directed “Tree of Life,” which stars Penn and Brad Pitt, and Pohlad also was a producer and financier for “Into the Wild,” which Penn directed.

Wilson watched his wife’s CIA status become compromised after he wrote op-ed columns that accused the Bush Administration of manipulating intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.

The project, based on Plame Wilson’s memoir, landed at Pohlad’s River Road after Warner Bros. put the project in turnaround.