Posted on 07/22/2008 7:33:36 AM PDT by abb
The Media Mob has learned that a team of Hollywood insiders is currently working on a screen adaptation of Truth And Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power—the 2005 book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, in which she defends the 60 Minutes II story by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, which ran on CBS in September 2004 and eventually led to her ouster from the network.
Who would want to turn "Rathergate" into a feature-length film?
According to sources familiar with the situation, Producer Mikkel Bondesen, (his credits include serving as executive producer on the USA Network series "Burn Notice") is actively working on the adaptation with screenwriter James Vanderbilt.
Mr. Vanderbilt wrote the screenplay for the 2007 serial killer movie Zodiac—based on the nonfiction book by Robert Graysmith—and is currently writing the screenplay for Spider-Man 4.
In the book, Ms. Mapes was highly critical of how her bosses at CBS and Viacom handled the aftermath of the wildly controversial story about President Bush's military service. Along the way, she lays much of the groundwork for what could be a juicy White House conspiracy thriller.
"Money is the master," wrote Ms. Mapes. "That is the bottom line to what happened at CBS that fateful fall when we aired a story that, like all stories, was imperfect, but was absolutely grounded in fact. It was well researched and well documented. But when Viacom saw that the story was not well received and that a conservative firestorm was threatening the corporation's financial well-being, their collective wallets started itching. As a result, I believe CBS News, 60 Minutes, Dan Rather, and journalism itself got badly scratched."
(Mr. Rather is currently making similar charges in Manhattan court in a $70 million civil suit against his former employers, in part, for their handling of the aftermath of the story.)
"This was a corporate, political, and public relations operation, designed to take the heat off and allow Viacom to walk away unscathed, unencumbered by lingering anger from the White House or the various Republican-dominated committees that the corporation lobbied constantly," added Ms. Mapes.
It remains to be seen how much of the screenplay will be dedicated to the alleged bungling of the story and its aftermath at CBS versus the broader story of the President's military service.
When reached by phone on Monday afternoon, Ms. Mapes declined to comment. The Media Mob has a phone call in to Mr. Bondesen. We'll update if we hear back.
No word yet on who might play Mr. Rather if the script ever makes it to production. This wouldn't be the first film made about internal drama at CBS News: In 1999, Michael Mann directed The Insider, an account of 60 Minutes and its struggle with tobacco company Brown & Williamson. That movie was nominated for seven Oscars, including for Best Actor and Best Director.
So the evidence was forged; our hearts were in the right place. We know Bush is evil. We get paid to make these judgments. We shouldn't be held to the same evidentiary requirements as normal people.
They are delusional.
“So the evidence was forged but our hearts were in right place.”
Just like global warming!
. . . or Lane Smith, a natural to play Rather
A nice choice looks wise, but he died last year. Of course, that might be your point . . .
This has to be a joke. Maybe they will make it a sci-fi movie where time traveling Dan Rather goes back to 1972 with a copy of Microsoft Word?
Too bad Howard Beal died before his time.
“Along the way, she lays much of the groundwork for what could be a juicy White House conspiracy thriller.”
Rove ginned up the documents and got a liberal in Texas to fax them to CBS via contacts in the DNC. < /s >
A good starting point for that script is right here.
Is Buckhead a public person? Or will they have to seek a release to portray him in the film?
Will they do like they did with Bob Dylan in the Edie Segewick biopic and make up a character that can only be one person?
Bob Dylan was called “Billy Quinn” in Factory Girl.
What will Buckhead’s fictional name be?
RATHER: ...with Jesse Jackson, and I realize this is not popular to say with a lot of people, but I have a respect for Jesse Jackson. That he was an important figure in paving the way for an Osama bin Laden to appear.
The older Dan Rather gets, the more he sounds like Abe Simpson...
"We used to say if a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a handgun"
"His lead is as thin as turnip soup."
"Whenever I'm confused, I just check my underwear. It holds the answer to all the important questions."
"One's reminded of that old saying, 'Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.'"
"Dear Mr. President, There are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three. P.S. I am not a crackpot."
"We had a slight hitch in our giddy up, but we corrected that."
"This race is shakier than cafeteria Jell-O."
"The last time the meteors came, we thought the sky was on fire. Naturally, we blamed the Irish. We hanged more 'n a few."
"When I was a pup, we got spanked by presidents 'til the cows came home! Grover Cleveland spanked me on two non-consecutive occasions!"
“No word yet on who might play Mr. Rather if the script ever makes it to production.”
I think Harry Reid would be just right.
"And I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling pajama people..."
Considering Zodiac has never been caught or prosecuted or confessed, there is a lot of fiction in the movie even if was based on "nonfiction".
About as accurate as making a movie about the Jon Benet murder. Too many unknowns.
Leftists are at perpetual war with reality, which is why they gravitate toward newsrooms, universities, and entertainment media.
If reality is unfriendly to you, and if you can’t change the reality, then the next best thing is to control the public’a perception of it.
I thought that Jack Nickolson's character in Broadcast News was also based on Dan Rather.
George Orwell warned us 60 years ago that Socialists lie and are evil.
Socialists lie. Always. They loved Stalin’s methods and decried the US and UK.
The details of my life are quite inconsequential.... Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize; he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament... My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon... luge lessons... In the spring, we'd make meat helmets... When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds — pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first scribe. At the age of 14, a Zoroastrian named Wilma ritualistically shaved my testicles — there really is nothing like a shorn scrotum — it's breathtaking... I suggest you try it.I wonder if he was amused. I felt sort of like Larry the Cable Guy: I don't care who you are, that right there is funny. But it did not make it into any of the stories, at least that I can recall.
If the movie is based on Mapes' book, it will be a gigantic collection of lies and delusions.
Indeed it was. However, I did not know (or recall) that he'd died until I went looking for him on IMDB to see if had a more recent role than Perry White on Lois & Clark back in the mid-90s. Lou Gerhig's disease. How sad.
Hey, that’s actually a great idea. I think there’s a lot of room to take real-world mysteries, events and scandals and turn them into Scooby-Doo episodes...PJ must know someone with the resources to make that happen.
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