Los Angeles, Aug 24 (IANS): The political thriller film 'Killers & Diplomats', which tells the true story of four American missionary women raped and murdered in El Salvador in 1980 during a civil war in the Central American nation, is in the works, reports 'Variety'.

Projected Picture Works, the company founded by Sean Penn last year, has been signed on to produce the movie.

According to 'Variety', 'Killers & Diplomats' follows a young U.S. diplomat who cracked the case by cultivating an improbable source -- risking everything to gather the key evidence.

The Salvadoran Civil War was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing groups. A coup on October 15, 1979, followed by government killings of anti-coup protesters, triggered the civil war.

The film is based on an article by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Raymond Bonner.

'Variety' further states that 'Killers & Diplomats' is from writers Michael Nourse and John Tyler McClain, whose screenplay was featured on the 2021 Annual Black List.

Projected Picture Works was founded by Sean Penn, John Ira Palmer and John Wildermuth in 2021.