Hugh Jackman will be playing a real person later this year when he appears as P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman. And he'll need a similar combination of theatrics and biographical abilities for another role, as he's now playing US politician Gary Hart in Jason Reitman's new political drama The Frontrunner.
It's the fascinating, controversial story of Hart, a charismatic senator from Colorado who became the Democratic frontrunner for the presidential nomination in 1988. All seemed to be going well until a political and personal landmine detonated, with news breaking that he had had an affair, and he dropped out of the race. The rest of the story saw Michael Dukakis scoring the nomination and losing to George HW Bush.
Reitman wrote the script alongside political journalist Matt Bai and former Hilary Clinton press secretary Jay Carson, adapting Bai's 2015 book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid. The focus besides the story will be on how the scandal opened up a fresh vein in American politics and the media, with personal stories once more becoming fair game.
Jackman, as mentioned, has The Greatest Showman due on 1 January 2018, while Reitman's next film is Tully, a reunion with both writer Diablo Cody and star Charlize Theron. It'll head our way on 20 April next year.
Charlize Theron, Jason Reitman And Diablo Cody Working On New Film