Freedom of the press — and it role as a government watchdog — will be at the heart of Steven Spielberg's next movie, which teams up two of Hollywood's biggest stars in Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks for the first time.

Spielberg has signed on to direct "The Post," a very timely drama about the Washington Post's role in publishing the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Hanks will play editor Ben Bradlee, while Streep will play publisher Katherine Graham, both of whom engaged in a legal battle with the government over the right to publish the controversial classified study that revealed damning information about the Vietnam War.

The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the Post and the New York Times on the grounds of the First Amendment.

Streep is coming off her 20th Oscar nomination for "Florence Foster Jenkins," and is currently filming "Mary Poppins Returns." Hanks is next seen in sci-fi thriller "The Circle."

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