Warner Bros. Developing Valerie Plame Film
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Warner Brothers, Newsstand, Politics
By now, I'm sure you've all heard the names Valerie Plame and Ambassador Joseph Wilson; Plame was outed as a CIA agent by White House officials following an op-ed piece in the New York Times written by her husband, Wilson, in which he attacked the Bush administration for manipulating intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the current Iraq invasion. It's juicy stuff -- and now that Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is on trial defending accusations that he lied to FBI agents investigating the leak -- Warner Bros. has decided to snag the life rights of Plame and Wilson for -- you guessed it -- a delicious Hollywood movie.
Ah, but here's the catch: studio wants to use Plame's upcoming memoir Fair Game for the film, however before it's published the CIA has to approve. As Variety points out, it's ironic that the same government who outed her -- threatening the safety of herself and her family -- can also prevent her from telling the story. Set up as a co-production between Weed Road's Akiva Goldsman and Zucker Productions, producers Jerry and Janet Zucker feel there's more than enough scandal currently out in the media that, while the memoir would be added incentive, it's not a make or break situation. But is it worthy of the big screen treatment? The last two CIA-related pics to hit theaters, The Good Shepherd and Breach, barely made a dent at the box office; these days, it seems folks want their CIA agents to shoot bad guys and blow things up, while bedding a number of beautiful women. Has real life become too boring? Jez and John Butterworth will pen the script, having just completed work on Spike Lee's James Brown biopic, Superbad.
I'd like to think pic's box office draw will rely heavily on its cast, but De Niro had Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie for Shepherd, yet the film still didn't attract a mass audience. I immediately expect Nicole Kidman or Diane Lane to be a frontrunners for Plame, and perhaps Richard Gere for Wilson -- but is this material worthy of a Hollywood picture or more made-for-TV?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-02-2007 @ 2:45PM
jb said...
Its amazing how someone who obviously knows nothing about the case of Valerie Plame... the fact she and her husband have lied more than anyone...
Even liberal newspapers and websites realize how ridiculous this has gotten.
http://www.slate.com/id/2103795/
STICK TO MOVIE NEWS.
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3-02-2007 @ 5:12PM
Cath said...
jb: you ought to listen to your own advice. I love how these chickenhawks are so quick to attack a real hero, someone who was actually trying to protect us from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, because she's not a member of your church.
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3-02-2007 @ 5:43PM
yalmot said...
As Judith Miller ---- Harriet Sansom Harris.
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3-02-2007 @ 7:23PM
jb said...
It wasn't political attack as the poster of this article says.
Everyone who knew her knew she worked for the CIA. She was never clandestined.
Her husband went to Niger... never did any research and made up a whole story and concocted a whole report thats turned out to be COMPLETELY WRONG. Turns out Saddam WAS trying to obtain yellow cake from Niger! And then since it was such a "secret mission" decides to write an OP-ED piece in a highly publicized newspaper about the lies he created?!
Tell me who here was trying undermine who?
As for the movie... I will be waiting to see how Hollywood left spins this.
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3-03-2007 @ 3:48PM
Morgan said...
Gotta say jb, in general I agree with you, the story was blown sooo far out of proportion in the first place. No one was ever even charged with revealing a covert agent's status because no law was broken.
That being said, even with the 'outing' comments in the next paragraph, Erik gets the story so much closer than 99% of people. "Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, is on trial defending accusations that he lied to FBI agents investigating the leak."
That part is correct. Libby is not charged with revealing her identity, and in fact NO ONE is because no law was broken. Fitzgerald knew from the beginning that it was Armitage, it was just a fishing expedition to try to get some perjury charges and move up the line.
We'll see if it works, but even with Erik claiming the government 'outed' her, as though proven with malice and intent, he at least got the factual part of the story correct. I'll take it.
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3-17-2007 @ 10:57PM
P- said...
I wouldn't pay $8.75 to see Sharon Stone play Valerie Plame. I'd pay $8.75 to see Valerie Plame play herself more. I'd pay $8.75 to see Angelina Jolie. Maybe a matinee if it was a Sharon Stone. Nothing against Warner Bros.
Question of the week: Is America too racist for a Black President? (Spiegel)(Sen. B. Obama versus Sen. Hillary C.)
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4-03-2007 @ 11:10PM
Marjarie said...
You people are unbelievable. Do your homework next time you open your pie hole. Wilson "didn't do research"?????? He was Ambassador to Iraq for HOW LONG??????? Or were you unaware of that? He wrote the Op-Ed in the Times because he heard your illegitmate imbecile president Curious George lie to the entire world when he said Iraq tried to buy yellowcake from Niger and Wilson knew that was not only untrue, but the opposite of what he said in his report. AND IT'S STILL UNTRUE..IT NEVER HAPPENED. And just because Libby wasn't CHARGED, peas for brains, doesn't mean outing an agent isn't a crime. It most certainly IS. I know 2 ex-CIA agents, via their current homeland security work and my job with an elected official. Both are outraged that no one has been charged. Both think it was an act of treason. Both say no one in the White House has the right to say whether an agent is deep or not, that is between the operative and his/her direct "caretaker", usually a field officer. What is the most disturbing in all this is I have to sit and listen to the lies of Republicans who claim anyone who disagrees with them is unpatriotic, a traitor. And yet here they - and you - have NO PROBLEM with our government not only revealing a CIA agent's identity, but shopping around the info to see how many people they could get to print it. You're probably like those idiots who have SUVs and Hummers with "Support Our Troops" bumper stickers. Your support consists of sucking up as much gas as possible so we are supplying as much money as possible to the terrorists in the Arab world. Or maybe you actually visit VA centers? Hire and/or job train ex-veterans? Take gifts to disabled, injured veterans in hospitals? For the record, I DO ALL THOSE THINGS. BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT SUPPORT OR TROOPS MEANS. Unlike you sloths. You make me puke.
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