Logan Lerman and Asa Butterfield have signed on to the political drama College Republicans. The film is finally heading to the big screen after the screenplay originally topped the Black List of best unproduced Hollywood screenplays back in 2010.
James Schamus has signed on to direct the project, which follows a young Lee Atwater and Karl Rove as they square off against a Republican operative for the chairmanship of the national College Republicans club in the summer of 1973.
Atwater became Rove’s untrustworthy campaign manager, and the two young men took a road trip through the South to secure votes by forming uneasy alliances with future Republican titans such as Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Jeff Sessions.
While it’s debatable whether we need a film about the younger versions of two dodgy men who went on to shape the modern GOP at this particular time, Lerman and Butterfield are both talented actors who should bring plenty to the roles. And Schamus, who has written films such as The Ice Storm and Hulk, is a talented writer.
He’s also already worked with Lerman, having directed him in the impressive Philip Roth adaptation, Indignation, so maybe that’s a good sign.
This film has actually gone through many incarnations. Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan were once slated to star, while Richard Linklater was on board to direct. Paul Dano was also on board as far back as 2011, so this screenplay has been doing the rounds for a while. Production is expected to begin next spring or summer.
This isn’t the only movie Schamus is involved in, as he recently signed on to write Justin Lin‘s banking drama Abacus. Lerman recently starred in the Amazon series Hunters, which was just renewed for a second season, while Butterfield continues to star in the Netflix series Sex Education and was in three episodes of 50 States Of Fright on (the possibly short-lived) Quibi.
#Peace.Love.CollegeRepublicans
