For a long time now, George Clooney has been trying to get a film adaptation of Beau Williamson’s Broadway play Farragut North off the ground (since at least 2007). However he’s been stymied by a lack of interest from potential funders, despite having the Cloonster directing and Ryan Gosling attached (Leo DiCaprio, Chris Pine and Brad Pitt have also shown interest at various times, but even that didn’t work to get the project enough momentum).
Well, now it appears he’s got everything sorted, as Exclusive Media Group and Cross Creek have sent out a press release announcing that they will jointyl fund the picture, which will begin shooting next February. Gosling is also now completely onboard for one of the lead roles, and the movie even has a new title, going from the rather oblique Farragut North to the more imposing The Ides Of March.
Beau Williamson’s play (he also wrote the initial draft of the script) was written after his work campaigning for Howard Dean in 2004. Accordingly, the story is set in Des Moines, Iowa, just weeks before the states Democratic caucuses officially commence; it follows the exploits of a twentysomething presidential campaign spinmeister/wunderkind named Stephen Myers (Gosling), and the dirty pool he plays to get his candidate the nomination against a rival senator.
Grant Heslov will play Governor Morris, who is running for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Paul Giamatti is onboard as a rival candidates campaign leader, while Marisa Tomei plays a New York Times reporter and Evan Rachel Wood an intern with whom Ryan Goslings character has a liason. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was previously attached to play Governor Morris’ campaign leader, but he’s not mentioned in the press release and so may have dropped out.
Political movies often have difficulty at the box office, which may be why Clooney’s had difficulty getting this one off the ground, however he does seem to have a talent for directing this sort of film, and it is the sort of subject that could make for an interesting movie.