Movie Deal For Staggeringly Wrong Political Journalist
He said Matt Drudge and Karl Rove held the key to the presidency. His last book was embarrassingly wrong. Barack Obama won by studiously ignoring his advice. Someone put Mark Halperin in pictures!
Halperin, who inflicted The Note on the world before moving to Time, sold an option HBO Films to turn into a movie his forthcoming 2008 campaign book Game Change, even though that book is effectively an extended correction on his last book.
The studio, which does projects for both the eponymous premium cable channel and the big screen, has already hired a writer (Charles Leavitt) to do the screen adaptation.
Halperin will serve as a consultant to the movie, alongside John Heilemann, the New York magazine political writer he’s been blessed to have as a co-author on the book. HBO will need all the help it can get: Like the book, the film Game Change will attempt to track three campaigns and five politicians
Usually a movie like this would take you behind the scenes of a campaign, but there’s only so deep you can go when you’re hopping between Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin and John McCain. (Sad Joe Biden will apparently be reduced to a bit part.) Maybe HBO is thinking miniseries.
In any case, it will be fun to watch the casting decisions unfold, and to relive the 2008 campaign through the eyes of a man who thought John McCain was on fire the week he said “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Maybe we’ll find out he was right after all.
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
The fundamentals of political movies at HBO are solid.
rustneversleeps
Mark Halperin is a tool.
rustneversleeps
I want Audra McDonald to play Michelle. And I want an used condom to play Mark Halperin.
But he's a middle-aged white guy! They're authoritative and right about everything! Just look at him!
If someone at HBO is vaguely clever (doubtful), then script will never see the light of day. Mark Halperin is standing by the tracks, but the train is long gone.
Incidentally, NOW it's time to mention another writer who got a million dollar advance and five seconds of fame: Jonathan Littell, author of "The Kindly Ones."
As predicted by Smithhimself, thousands of copies of this wretched novel are now being shipped back to HarperCollins where they will be shredded and pulped by the end of summer.
So how does Jonathan Burnham keep his job? Beats me, Jonathan -- you're a fucking idiot.
Also in the works at HBO Films:
If It Feels So Good Being 100% Wrong All the Time, Then I Don't Want To Be Right: The Bill Kristol Story
zizekian
I'm looking forward to HBO's upcoming film about an up and coming congressman from the Midwest who rises from obscurity to become president of the united states, called "the dennis kucinich story."
El_Gato
@econdave: And he's wearing a red tie!
dinalohan
oh goodness, straight white guy needs to retire. The trope that folks were lying in the polls to project progressiveness, but would 'dis Obama in voting booth, was a GOP plant run with by folks like Halperin...buh-bye.
MrRewrite