In these days of trenchant political name-calling and the spread of social media, it's helpful to look back at one of the scandals that nudged the evolution of how politicians are seen and covered by the press. Hugh Jackman stars as real-life politician Gary Hart in the first trailer for The Front Runner.
Jason Reitman is in the director's chair for this one, which chronicles how Hart, a charismatic senator from Colorado 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.
JK Simmons (a Reitman regular), Up In The Air's Vera Farmiga, Sara Paxton, Ari Graynor and Mike Judge are all part of the cast for the movie, which will premiere at the Telluride Film Festival as it kicks off a potential awards run. US audiences will see it in limited release on 7 November before it goes wide on 21 November. As for the UK? It'll screen at the London Film Festival ahead of a 25 January arrival.
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