Culture

NBC Wants a Piece of the Hillary Clinton 2016 Pie

The struggling network announced plans to bring the former Secretary of State to the small screen ahead of Election Day 2016 at Saturday's Television Critics Association panel discussion, and NBC already has one thing the big screen version does not: a lead actress. 

By Connor Simpson
Saved Stories
This article is from the archive of our partner .

Update, 5:52 p.m. The New York Times' Bill Carter reports Clinton's camp was completely unaware of NBC's plans to do a miniseries. Seems odd, no?

Original: The struggling network announced plans to bring the former Secretary of State to the small screen ahead of Election Day 2016 at Saturday's Television Critics Association panel discussion, and NBC already has one thing the big screen version does not: a lead actress.

NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt announced four major projects during NBC's panel: an "updated remake" of Rosemary's Baby; a new version of Stephen King's Tommyknockers; a Mark Burnett-produced series about "landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock;" and then there was Hillary. All four projects are limited "event" series like this summer's successful Under the Dome. The network has a "need to be in the event business," Greenblatt told the crowd of critics. "All of (the new projects) have their own event nature."

And certainly Hillary will be an event, competing with a movie that's also timed to release when Clinton (presumably) is running for President in 2016. The a four hour miniseries already has a leading lady in Diane Lane. Greenblatt announced Lane agreed play Clinton for the mini-series, but there's no finalized script or someone to play Bill, her husband, also a man of some note. That's one thing Greenblatt and NBC have over Rodham, NBC's competition on the silver screen. Carey Mulligan, Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence were all rumored for the part, but no one's been attached to the movie yet. The long-delayed Black List script was finally rushed into production so it would be finished ahead of election day in 2016, just like the TV project, but producers are still struggling to find a leading lady.

So, to review:

  • NBC still needs a script. 
  • Movie producers need a lead actress.
  • Both need Hillary to actually run in 2016.

One step at a time, I guess.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.