BREAKING: Exclusive Media Group chairman Guy East and Nigel Sinclair are teaming with Cross Creek Pictures president Brian Oliver to finance The Ides of March, the drama that is based on the Beau Willimon Broadway play Farragut North. George Clooney, long set as director, will also star alongside Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. Clooney and his Smoke House Pictures partner Grant Heslov wrote the script with Willimon. The Smoke House partners are producing with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way. East, Sinclair and Oliver are co-producing. Exclusive Films International will sell offshore territories at AFM. CAA, which packaged the film and raised the financing, will broker the domestic deal. I’ve heard that Sony Pictures Entertainment is a potential landing place. The film begins production February in Michigan and Ohio.
Deadline revealed September 30 that Gosling would take the role that DiCaprio originally intended to play, a press spokesman for a candidate running in the presidential primary for the Democratic Party ticket. Clooney will play the candidate, a state governor with White House aspirations. Willimon based the play on his own experiences on the campaign trail with Howard Dean in 2004. In the play, the press agent falls prey to backroom politics, the manipulations of veteran political operatives and the seduction of a young intern. Giamatti plays a rival campaign manager, Tomei plays a reporter for the New York Times, and Wood plays an intern for the campaign.





Uncle George is *the man*.
Wonderful cast. Story sounds good. George is a solid actor and director.
This has my attention!
Since Clooney/Smokehouse overall deal is at Sony, that makes sense as a landing place.
Of course, Clooney in yet another political film means it is not going to do well in theatres.
I like Clooney but after seeing the American he’s got one more shot with me before he goes in the same box with Clint Eastwood, Scorsese and a few others I once supported. Legends they may be but recent work from the aforementioned directors hasn’t been up to par. Some of these guys are like old fighters getting exploited by unscrupulous promoters/execs too lazy, afraid, or clueless to locate and develop new talent.
This play was not produced on Broadway. It had an off-Broadway run at the Atlantic Theater and then a run at the Tapper in LA. I saw both productions, and thought Chris Pine was fantastic in the LA production. Seems silly to not have Chris play the part in the movie. Is Gosling that much of a bigger draw?
This kind of movie is not designed to make a ton of money at the box office so it doesn’t matter who is the bigger draw. It’s made to win awards and get nominated for Oscars. And Ryan Gosling, already being an Oscar nominee, easily has the more prestigious name in that respect. When people see a movie headlined by Ryan Gosling, they know it’s a serious film and perhaps worthy of awards attention, not some silly action blockbuster.
I thoroughly enjoyed the play when it was at the Geffen last year, but am not nuts about the changes made so far. Ides of March? Is that really any more catchy than Farragut North? I’d bet most filmgoers couldn’t tell you what either title referred to so why bother changing it? And making Clooney the candidate — whom you never see in the play — rather than the protagonist’s mentor-manager seems to undermine the basic story, which isn’t about the candidate-staffer relationship. It’s not Primary Colors; it’s a story set in the trenches about the soldiers in the campaign — not the general who gets all the press. Clooney would actually be great as the mentor, played onstage by Chris Noth, so I hope it’s just a gaffe on the reporters’ part.
P.S. Chris Pine, who starred in the Geffen production, would have been a lot better and more appealing for the lead role than Gosling, who is a fine actor but brings moodiness rather than the smooth charm the role requires. Just my 2 cents.
You heard it here FIRST — George Clooney will run for President in 2020.
…And I will vote for him.
Can’t stand Willimon. Unbearably pretentious.
I agree. The script is moderate — nothing that got me hot and bothered. I was actually shocked it made the Black List.
I dig Clooney but the million-dollar question is this: is the guy TALENTED or just LUCKY as hell?
(I mean is he truly a money-maker for Hollywood or have we been duped into thinking of him as some 21st century Cary Grant Super Star with a side bevy of smokin’ hot babes — and a Bill Gates-Save-The-World socially liberal streak?)
Anyone care to enlighten me?
Clooney does not play a candidate. In fact, the candidate never appears in the play. He plays a senior political strategist – i.e. David Plouffe – and why are they changing the title?
‘The Ides of March’ is a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE title. ‘Farragut North’ is great and much more evocative – just stay with that.
no one know what the hell a Farragut is. Ides of March is much, much better. Anyone who made it past Freshman English class knows the reference.
My point exactly, smartass. The first thing I think of when I see the title is Shakespeare, not politics. Farragut North is even referenced in the script. Besides, this movie is not going to have any kind of wide box office appeal but the audience who will go to see it will be smart enough to know what the hell a Farragut is (which in case you don’t know, is a metro station in D.C. and is also used as a metaphor for where disgraced campaign operatives are hung out to dry).
Agree. “Farragut North” is a DC Metro subway station near K Street and the White House. The reference is utterly lost on anyone who doesn’t live and commute in DC. If you don’t know what the ides of March refers to, though, you’re probably not in the market to see a political movie anyway.
I second this. Farragut North is a fantastic title, and Ides of March doesn’t even make any sense. The movie is about the Iowa caucuses which are in January or February.
Small detail about a funding story which is missing- what’s the budget?
When Clooney will take a break every time he is involved in a project that does not seem to get out of the spotlight. ‘m tired of his face.
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I agree with Jim, Chris Pine would have been the perfect choice. Plus, he needs wonderful dramatic role that will allow him to shine on film.
Clooney is a no go for a lot of people. His stupidity in continuing to do political movies isn’t helping matters. They’re boring and his participation is a sign that they’ll be laughably one-sided.
Gosling is a way better actor than Chris Pine, who in this cast line-up would’ve been out of his league.