Aaron Sorkin to Tackle The Politician

Aaron Sorkin, writer of Charlie Wilson’s War, The Social Network and Moneyball, will make his directorial debut with an adaptation of Andrew Young’s novel about presidential candidate John Edwards, originally titled The Politician: An Insider’s Account of John Edwards’s Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down.

In an interview with THR, Sorkin said of the project,

This is a first-hand account of an extraordinary story filled with motivations, decisions and consequences that would have lit Shakespeare up…There’s much more to Andrew’s book that what has been reported and I’m grateful that he’s trusting me with it.”

No stranger to the world of politics, Sorkin’s West Wing is regarded among the best TV series of recent years, what makes this an interesting turning point for Sorkin is the decision to direct the film, something which he usually entrusts to his long time collaborator Thomas Schlamme.

Sorkin is set to write, produce and direct the adaptation. No word on when production will start.

Reported by Jamie Neish