With Julianne Moore (as Sarah Palin), Ed Harris (as John McCain) and Woody Harrelson (as Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s senior campaign strategist and adviser) the cast for HBO‘s “Game Change” is already stellar and has added yet another strong player into the fold.
Deadline reports that Ron Livingston — best known for his turns in “Band Of Brothers” and “Office Space” — has joined the film. He’ll be playing Mark Wallace, a senior adviser to McCain-Palin 2008 campaign team who was tasked with preparing the vice-presidential candidate for her debate with Joe Biden. A performance, that ultimately surprised many people and turned her from a fringe weirdo into a viable and popular candidate (who has since fallen back to being a fringe, reality-TV show, weirdo).
Jay Roach, who helmed the 2000 election tale “Recount” for HBO, has reunited with the writer of that film, Danny Strong, for “Game Change,” which is based on the best-seller by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, and will track the 2008 election on both sides. It’s definitely one of the most memorable presidential races in recent memory and the film is shaping up to be something special. Filming is expected to begin this summer.
Oh, and here’s a bit of trivia. Julianne Moore originally tested to play Hilary Clinton in “The Special Relationship” — in a role that eventually went to Hope Davis — but check out her test shot below from BlackBook. Uncanny. It seems that Moore is a bit of political chameleon.
