Widely considered one of the finest screenwriters in Hollywood, Aaron Sorkin has worked mostly in TV, but also penned the acclaimed likes of Charlie Wilson's War, while The Social Network, helmed by David Fincher, will be out around October. Sorkin is now about to turn his hand to directing, with a typically political subject.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The West Wing creator has purchased the rights to The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down. The book was penned by one of Edwards's closest confidantes, Andrew Young, who worked on his campaign for the presidency during the democratic primaries. According to the trade paper "Young first volunteered for the Edwards Senate campaign in 1998 and eventually became one of the North Carolina pol's most trusted confidants. During the 2008 presidential primary, Edwards began making unethical demands of Young relating to the candidate's mistress and her child with him."
Sorkin will also write and produce the film, and said: "This is a first-hand account of an extraordinary story filled with motivations, decisions and consequences that would have lit Shakespeare up," said Sorkin. "There's much more to Andrew's book than what has been reported, and I'm grateful that he's trusting me with it." Looking forward to this one.