Filmmakers Eye a Trump-Era 'All the President's Men'
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- All the President's Men is the model several name filmmakers are reportedly ready to adapt into a Trump-era political procedural focused on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, with scripts and budgets awaiting greenlight decisions
- Alan Pakula once called the real Watergate conspirators Haldeman and Ehrlichman "as 'blah' as their strategy" and nearly impossible to cast — a problem the article argues today's more vivid political figures like Kash Patel and Kristy Noem would solve
- Robert Redford secretly hired two indie writers to draft a competing script behind screenwriter William Goldman's back, a move that appalled director Pakula during production
- Ben Bradlee warned Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham that the New York Times was closing in on the same Watergate exposé, driving the competitive pressure depicted in the film
- The original film's mystery hinged on Deep Throat's identity, kept secret throughout production and revealed 20 years later as a top FBI man
- Newly merged studios are weighing regulatory concerns when deciding whether to back a Trump-era political procedural, the article notes
Why it matters: Pakula once called the real Watergate conspirators "as blah as their strategy" and nearly impossible to cast — making a Trump-era remake potentially far richer in character, yet the article underscores that merged studios' regulatory anxiety and the still-unfolding Epstein story could keep the project in development limbo.
