Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Amy Adams in Talks to Star in Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney Biopic
Christian Bale and Steve Carell may team up again with “The Big Short” director Adam McKay. Bale, Carell and Amy Adams are in talks to star in McKay’s as-yet-untitled Dick Cheney biopic for Paramount, as reported by Variety. Sources tell the magazine Bale would play the former vice president, while Adams would portray his wife, Lynne Cheney, and Carell would play former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
McKay will direct the film from his own screenplay. He will also produce under his Gary Sanchez Productions, along with his partners Will Ferrell and Kevin Messick. Brad Pitt is also among the producers of this project, under his Plan B Entertainment, along with Plan B co-presidents Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner. Producers are aiming to start filming in the spring.
After serving in the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton Company from 1995 to 2000. He then served as VP under George W. Bush between 2001 and 2009. In that role, he pushed for post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, based on the belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was working with al-Qaeda. Cheney also established the “enhanced interrogation techniques,” a program of systematic torture against suspected terrorists.
READ MORE: 50 Movies to See This Summer
“I’ve always found Cheney fascinating,” McKay told Deadline back in November. “Questions of what drove him, what his beliefs were; but once we started digging I was astounded at how much he had shaped modern America’s place in the world and how shocking the methods were by which he gained his power.”
“The Big Short” was McKay’s last film. It earned five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Director, and won the Best Adapted Screenplay award.
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
