Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Hugh Jackman, best known for playing Wolverine in a number of Marvel Comics movies, is in talks to play Gary Hart, the Democratic politician who was brought low because of an alleged affair with a woman named Donna Rice in a movie called “The Frontrunner.” The Rise And Fall of Hart, who had started his career as George McGovern’s campaign manager in the 1972 presidential campaign before running for president in his own right in the 1980s, will serve as the basis of the movie.
Who was Gary Hart?
Hart’s political career did not begin very auspiciously when he managed the presidential campaign of Sen.
George McGovern in 1972 which resulted in a 49 state wipeout at the hands of then President Richard Nixon. Nevertheless, Hart managed to win a United States Senate seat from Colorado in 1976, the year that Jimmy Carter was elected president.
The first presidential run
Hart first ran for president in 1984, at first providing a credible alternative to the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, former Vice President Walter Mondale. Hart based his candidacy on a program of “new ideas” (vaguely defined) and his own youth and vigor as compared to Mondale. However, the former vice president ridiculed Hart’s candidacy with the jibe, “Where’s the beef?” Hart’s first run thus deflated like a punctured balloon and Mondale went on to a 49 state thrashing at the hands of then President Ronald Reagan.
Rise and fall
Hart mounted another presidential candidacy in the 1988 cycle. At first, he seemed to be the credible frontrunner, but he was caught in a sex scandal with a young woman named Donna Rice. Despite heated denials that an affair was taking place, Hart’s candidacy ended before it properly began, withdrawing twice from the campaign, the second time after losing the Super Tuesday primaries.
The eventual nominee, Michael Dukakis, lost the general election to then-Vice President George H. W. Bush.
Who is Hugh Jackman?
Besides playing the Marvel Comics superhero, Wolverine, in a number of movies, Jackman has starred in numerous films including “The Prestige,” “Kate and Leopold,” and “Les Misérables.” He is a native of Australia and has won international acclaim as a romantic lead and as an action hero.
Why a movie about Gary Hart?
Very few people in the 21st Century even remember Gary Hart.
But in his time he was a promising politician who attempted to reshape the Democratic Party to meet the realities of the 1980s, when the free market, anti-communist stance of President Reagan had dominated American politics. His rise and fall could be considered a Greek tragedy in some ways as it stemmed from fatal character flaws. Thus his story will be a fascinating historical drama that, in the right hands, could do well.
