Casting Call: State of the Union

In which we suggest who should star in the next big adaptation, remake, or historical film.

It’s 1948: Roosevelt is dead, Truman is in office, and elections are around the corner. For the first time since 1933, the Republican Party has a shot at the Presidential seat—all they need is the ideal candidate. Kay Thorndyke, the scion of a newspaper magnate, wants her lover, earnest airline entrepreneur Grant Matthews, to receive the nomination. She convinces Matthews that he can change the political world and brings him to her friend, Jim Conover, an experienced but past-his-prime politician, to help launch his campaign. There is only one small problem: Matthews is married with two children and hasn’t seen his wife in four months. No divorced man—not in 1948, not in 2013—has ever been elected president. If only for the campaign, Kay must step away from her lover and work to reunite him with his wife.

According to Indiewire, the next film on the Hollywood remake list is Frank Capra’s State of the Union (1948). Based on a Pulitzer-winning play, State of the Union originally starred Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, and Angela Lansbury. It’s not difficult to see how the film could be relevant to the president day: replace Truman with Obama, and 1948 with 2016. The film’s main message—how much is too much to sacrifice for power—can remain the same.

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