Universal sharpens The Knife

The Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe true-life crime thriller American Gangster is only just hitting cinemas and yet Universal (and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment) have obviously decided that they want to stay in the mag article-based genre.

The companies have joined forces once more to buy all rights associated with The Knife, a New York magazine article written by journalist Guy Lawson, which chronicles a Crips gang member in LA’s South Central who turned informant for the FBI and helped agent Tim Flaherty crack slayings, drugs and weapons-deal cases. As seems to be the norm these days, the studio has bought the article before it’s even hit the stands – the magazine doesn’t arrive until January.

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