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Is It Time For Trumpian Era ‘All The President’s Men’ Movie?

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The two biggest box office hits of the moment, Michael and The Devil Wears Prada 2, are unique as “period flashbacks”; they are, at once, of the present and the past. Could they be the model for a new genre?

If so, would filmgoers revisit that model for an updated All the President’s Men? Fifty years ago audiences were riveted by that thriller that focused on two relentless newsmen, played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, who were digging into the seedy mysteries of the Watergate scandal.

Several name filmmakers believe they could today create a contemporary political procedural to play against the drama of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The stakes of political drama in a Trumpian era might prove enticing to audiences — studies in the abuse of money and power. Scripts and budgets await decision.

President’s Men was a hit both at the box office and the Oscars but it faced serious obstacles along the way. The script was lacking in action and romance. The identity of Deep Throat — code name for the mysterious leaker — was never revealed. Twenty years later, we learned it was a top FBI man.

Further, the Nixon-era conspirators in real life were tedious corporate types with names like Haldeman and Ehrlichman who Alan Pakula, the director, found impossible to cast. “They were as ‘blah’ as their strategy,” he assured me at the time.

Pakula would have relished casting idiosyncratic characters like a Kash Patel or a Kristy Noem for roles in his contemporary President’s Men. That would have meant a long wait.

Tactful and politically astute, Pakula had earlier directed The Parallax View, the Warren Beatty thriller about political assassinations. He was thus keenly alert to the off-camera intrigues potentially surrounding President’s Men (personal disclosure: Pakula and I had worked together on several movies).

Katherine Graham, the then-publisher of the Washington Post, was facing intense pressure to pull support from the investigative zeal of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, her young reporting stars.

Ben Bradlee, her top editor (Jason Robards in the movie) daily reminded her that the New York Times was closing in on a similar exposé. The Times’ possible victory would bruise the Post’s reputation (they were destined to clash again over the Pentagon Papers).

Meanwhile, on-set tensions arose between Redford and William Goldman, the film’s revered screenwriter. Redford was so edgy about his dialogue that he closed a secret deal with two indie writers to develop a draft behind Goldman’s back. Pakula was appalled.

Redford sought to play the Bob Woodward character as reserved and calculating, while Hoffman, as Carl Bernstein, was manic and chain-smoking.

Both characters were fearful that their news sources were possibly leading them down the wrong path and that rival reporters on the New York Times would end up scooping them. Their careers were at stake and, more importantly, so was the towering scandal of Watergate itself. The parade of news stories ultimately led, of course, to Nixon’s resignation.

Would a Watergate-like thriller set in the Donald Trump era deliver equal emotional clout? And would today’s more bizarre cast of characters prove even more compelling? More relevant, would newly merged studios support it, given their concern for regulatory support?

“I’m going to fall on my face this time,” Pakula assured me the day before the start of principal photography on President’s Men. His apprehensions were misdirected: Fifty years ago, All the President’s Men was a smash, and indeed some filmgoers crave a new version.

And some filmmakers are eager for the chance.

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Jennifer Lawrence Boards Zach Cregger’s New Line Pic ‘The Flood’

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What has been buzzed about is becoming a reality: Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence is starring in Zach Cregger‘s next movie, The Flood at Warner Bros’ New Line Cinema. The pic has a release date of August. 11, 2028.

The sci-fi thriller project brings the Weapons filmmaker back to New Line on which he’ll direct, produce and write based on his original idea. The news comes just as Cregger’s Resident Evil for Sony/Constantin has just crossed the two century mark at the global box office.

Said Cregger, “Mike, Pam and the whole Warner Bros./New Line team were an absolute dream to collaborate with on Weapons, and I couldn’t be happier to dive in with them again. Jennifer is one of a kind, and I’m beyond excited to see her in this role.”

“Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most gifted and compelling actors working today, and we are thrilled to have her at the center of Zach’s bold and wholly original vision for The Flood. Following our extraordinary experience together on Weapons, we could not be more excited to reunite with Zach and the team at Vertigo, as well as Amblin to bring this ambitious film to audiences around the world,” said Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy.

Amblin Entertainment is producing alongside Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Entertainment. Plot details are being kept under wraps.

Weapons led the domestic box office for four consecutive weeks and earned $270 million worldwide last year, ranking among 2025’s highest-grossing horror films. Amy Madigan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Aunt Gladys, a character whose story will continue in the upcoming film Gladys.

Lawrence received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook and has also starred in American Hustle, Joy, Don’t Look Up, and The Hunger Games franchise. Through her production company, Excellent Cadaver, she has produced acclaimed films including Causeway, No Hard Feelings, and Die My Love, as well as the documentaries Zurawski v Texas and the Peabody Award-winning Bread and Roses. Most recently, Lawrence earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Die My Love. Up next, Excellent Cadaver will produce the highly anticipated What Happens at Night, starring Lawrence alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese.

Lawrence is represented by LBI Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman.

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Trump Looks To Rebrand AI As “Super Intelligence”

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Amid a backlash against data centers, worries of massive job loss and doomsday warnings from the industry itself, Donald Trump stood with top tech CEOs and pitched a rebrand.

“We’ve changed the name officially to SI,” Trump told reporters gathered just outside the West Wing, referring to the switch from “artificial intelligence” to “super intelligence.”

The president planned to sign an executive order as such on Tuesday afternoon, but it remains to be seen whether it actually will take hold when AI has become so ubiquitous.

Standing with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, among others, Trump also said that the White House meeting between the top executives produced a “self-policing” agreement and one that would be “morally binding.”

Three years ago, when Joe Biden was president, many of the same CEOs gathered on Capitol Hill for a forum on AI led by then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. But that meeting, along with others he held to address concerns over the technology, produced no new regulation.

Trump has continued to dismiss calls for greater regulation, warning of a race with China to dominate the technology. And he’s also expressed continued support for data centers even amid a backlash in local communities that has drawn opposition from lawmakers in both parties.

“The data centers are incredible,” Trump said. “And by the way I am very good at real estate. Some of those buildings are absolutely beautiful. They are big strong powerful buildings but they are beautiful.”

Zuckerberg said, “I think what we can all agree on is that the American public and our customers want to know that what we are building is working the way we intended. We drafted a set of principles and commitments around building robust internal controls and detecting any issues with the technology, coupled with multiple layers of auditing and controls, starting with internal risk review, external auditors and evaluators, and agreeing that we are going to have all of our board of directors independently review the reports that come from the auditors.”

He added, “The idea isn’t that this is the only thing we will ever do, it is that this is a start and an accord that the whole industry can come to.”

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Jennifer Lawrence to Star in Zach Cregger’s The Flood

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Jennifer Lawrence will star in Zach Cregger’s sci-fi thriller The Flood.

Warner Bros.’ New Line division is behind the movie, having picked up the project out of turnaround from Netflix earlier this year.

Cregger wrote the script and will direct and produce the thriller, which is based on his original idea and is set for theatrical release on August 11, 2028.

With Cregger’s Resident Evil movie now out and a hit, this is the filmmaker’s next movie to go. Production is due to begin in Europe in the first months of 2027.

Amblin Entertainment is producing alongside Cregger’s frequent collaborators, Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Entertainment.

Lawrence’s casting is a coup – for any studio, really – as the actress is known for being quite choosy. Most recently, she earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in post-partum drama Die My Love and will next be seen with Leonardo DiCaprio in drama What Happens at Night, directed by Martin Scorsese.

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