Chris Pine will dive into the tawdry world of politics.
George Clooney made a deal to direct a film version of Beau Willimon’s play “Farragut North” before the show even made it onto a stage. The play was produced off-Broadway in November 2008 and then went to Los Angeles in June 2009.
Now it looks like the movie version is finally getting rolling, with Clooney assembling a cast. Vulture says the invitees include Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giammatti, and Chris Pine, with Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood also possible participants.
Quickly about the play: Stephen is a hotshot young press secretary for a Democratic candidate for president. In Iowa on the eve of the caucuses, he finds himself caught in between the manager of his candidate’s campaign and the campaign manager for their rival, who tries to persuade Stephen to join them, insinuating that that would be a wise decision because he has info proving that Stephen’s candidate is doomed (yes, I should have included character names). Throw in a young staffer trying to push his own way to the top, a tough political reporter, and a teen girl campaign volunteer who’s going to make the most out of her one night stand with Stephen and, well, you’ve got fun.
In New York, John Gallagher Jr. played Stephen, and Chris Noth and Isiah Whitlock Jr. played the rival campaign managers. Olivia Thirlby played the teen girl and Kate Blumberg the reporter. In LA, Noth, Whitlock, and Thirlby reprised their roles, but Chris Pine (just as “Star Trek” was hitting theaters) took over the role of Stephen.
So for Chris Pine, the film would be a redo. Leonardo DiCaprio originallly had been attached to the role, but disappeared somewhere along the way; I don’t know if he had schedule problems or just decided he didn’t want to do it. I hate to say it, but as much as I love Leo, he might be a bit old for this one. The character’s supposed to be 25, and a kind of bright and shiny newcomer. Leo’s seemed awfully world-weary lately and I’d have a hard time buying that he was in the thrall of his first big, exciting campaign.
Brad Pitt had supposedly wanted to play the role of Paul Zara, the campaign manager Stephen works for, but schedule conflicts aren’t working, thus Hoffman. Paul Giammati would play the rival manager. Marisa Tomei would play the reporter and Wood would play the teen staffer who uses sex to get what she wants. I don’t know if Wood is really right for this. From what I understand (not having seen or read the play), I think it would help if the actress playing this character appeared to be innocent and really young, and Wood, while she is only 23, does not project that quality. Why not Thirlby? Oh well, who am I to question George…but in this case I will.
