We’re only a day away from the release of “The Other Guys,” and considering the generally excellent reviews, including our own, those of us who haven’t seen it are pretty excited for what most people are calling Adam McKay’s best film since “Anchorman” (which considering The Playlist’s undying love for “Step Brothers,” promises a great deal). But where next for the director? He signed on recently to direct the comic book adaptation “The Boys,” but a pair of interviews today have unearthed details on another project that appears to be in the running as well.
Both The AV Club and Ain’t It Cool News spoke to McKay, who revealed that he’s been developing a script, presumably at his production company Gary Sanchez Productions, with screenwriter Jesse Armstrong, creator of cult British TV show “Peep Show” and co-writer of “In the Loop” and Chris Morris’ “Four Lions,” focusing on Republican political strategist and consultant Lee Atwater.
Atwater hailed from South Carolina and earned his stripes on campaigns for Carroll Campbell and the repellent Senator Strom Thurmond. He rose to fame in the ’80s, however, with rumors of dirty tricks campaigns, hinting that congressional candidate Tom Turnipseed had undergone electroshock treatment, and most famously, scuppering Michael Dukakis’ presidential campaign with the famous ‘Willie Horton’ ads, leading a biographer to call him “the best campaign manager who ever lived.” He became a senior advisor to President George H.W. Bush, but contracted brain cancer in 1990. He became repentant, apologizing publicly to Turnipseed and Dukakis for his conduct before passing away in March 1991.
He was also a fairly colorful character: he was an accomplished Blues musician, playing with the likes of B.B. King, releasing an album on Curb Records, and even covering for Paul Shaffer on “Late Night With David Letterman,” as well as allegedly being something of a womanizer. It seems like terrific material, and could be perfect for McKay, who has a keen interest in politics (ie. the sobering if not downright depressing closing credits of “The Other Guys”).
He tells Mr. Beaks at AICN that “We have Jesse Armstrong working on a draft of that, and we have research being done. That would definitely be a smaller movie. I don’t think you’d get more than $8 million or $6 million to do that; even with a giant star, I don’t think you’d get more than that,” so it sounds like it could be a tricky project to get financing for at all.
Clearly McKay isn’t putting all his chips on it yet. He tells AV Club “that is one we’re looking at,” and “I would direct that,” so it sounds like it’s still quite early in the process. We imagine that he’ll do “The Boys” first, which will hopefully be a monster hit and let him do this one on his own terms. We sort of hope we’re wrong, though; the combination of McKay and Armstrong is an exciting one, and paired with material like this, it can’t hit theaters soon enough as far as we’re concerned. Head to the respective sites for more; McKay’s a very smart guy, and gives a great interview.
