Fresh off of his lauded performance in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Forest Whitaker is going to add to his list of roles based on important historical figures. That same list includes Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland and potentially Martin Luther King, Jr in Memphis.
The upcoming film, simply titled Powell, is going to center around the behind-the-scenes activities surrounding the Secretary of State’s case to the United Nations for war with Iraq. In an article with Variety, screenwriter Ed Whitworth says the story is a tragic one where the protagonist “ended up doing this thing that he now seemingly regrets and was clearly a huge mistake.” The announcement for the film couldn’t come at more appropriate time, with similar talks from now-Secretary of State John Kerry making similar arguments for bombing Syria.
Whitworth is making a big splash with his first three films, and attracting big names. Whitworth’s Reyjavik has gotten Michael Douglas and Christoph Waltz attached to play Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, respectively, in a film about the leaders’ failed disarmament talks. Colin Firth has also signed on to play an agent for MI6 in an untitled script, a political-thriller centered around a leading figure of the Arab Spring.
Leave a Comment