Screenwriter Peter Morgan just can't keep away from those political subjects - or from Michael Sheen. In a new HBO film* The** Special Relationship**, which Morgan has written and is planning to direct, he's lined up Michael Sheen, Dennis Quaid, Julianne Moore and Helen McCrory to play the Blairs and Clintons for a look at the special relationship between Britain and the US.
Morgan, McCrory and Sheen are all on familiar ground here, of course: Morgan wrote TV drama The Deal and The Queen, both of which starred Sheen as Tony Blair, and the latter of which also starred McCrory as Cherie Blair. But this time they'll be joined by Quaid as Bill Clinton and Julianne Moore, in not the world's most obvious casting ever, as Hillary.
The focus will be on the "unique and sometimes turbulent" political relationship between the newly installed Blair and the US President. Expect transatlantic misunderstandings and differing priorities, and a certain amount of condescension on both sides.
The film is not yet greenlit, with HBO in talks with the BBC about co-funding the project, but is expected to see Morgan's directorial debut and another raft of award nominations for the writer.
*So this may not get a cinema release, but it's still news, given the people involved. And given that The Queen started out as a TV film as well, can we rule out the big screen?