Clinton and Bush Are Already in Hollywood’s Sights

(New York Times) - LOS ANGELES — Hillary Clinton should keep an eye on George Clooney: Behind that smile, he is producing a movie satire inspired by the antics of some former Clinton advisers whose wildest war stories might best be forgotten.

As for Jeb Bush, it’s time to fret about Cate Blanchett. She will soon star as Mary Mapes, the CBS News producer who bored into questions about Bush family privilege during his brother’s presidential re-election campaign in 2004 (and was then fired when the “60 Minutes II” report was called into question). Everybody else can sit back and enjoy the cinematic ride.An inevitable convergence between the movies and the coming presidential campaign season is already emerging, though few candidates have yet declared, and the first primary remains nine months away. 

On film schedules, there is little sign of blatant campaigning so far. The most pointedly partisan films tend to come later in the campaign cycle, as did Michael Moore’s anti-Bush “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which was released in June 2004, or “2016: Obama’s America,” from the Obama opponents Dinesh D’Souza and John Sullivan, which opened in July of 2012. Read more.