I did a double take when I saw this headline: “What Will the ‘Game Change’ Sequel Be About?“
I shouldn’t have. If the past five years have taught us anything, it’s that Hollywood will never tire of reliving the 2008 election, especially those parts of it that involved the lady they love to hate. I wouldn’t be surprised if someday HBO gives us Game Change XVIII: We Don’t Like the Way Sarah Palin Blew Her Nose the Other Day.
In any event, it turns out that the potential Game Change sequel, which has the working title Double Down, actually deals with the 2012 election. So now filmmakers Danny Strong and Jay Roach are “speculat[ing] what it would take to cast a Mitt Romney who could match up to Julianne Moore’s Emmy-winning portrayal of Sarah Palin.”
This will, of course, involve “a ton of time . . . Photoshopping the hair.” You can’t make this stuff up.
The administration that this country actually voted for is riddled with scandals, yet Strong, Roach, and HBO are obsessed with making sure we remember every detail about the candidates who lost. Not since Nero have we seen such dedication to the art of trivial distraction from major disaster.
It’s not that the Double Down team is unaware of the current scandals–quite the contrary. Roach joked to BuzzFeed, “Danny and I are both being audited by the IRS because we had a fair [number of] mentions in our emails of ‘Tea Party’ and ‘Patriots'” while making Game Change.
Hilarious.
Artists are supposed to be gung-ho about creative freedom, but from the sound of it, it’s never even occurred to this particular bunch to be disturbed by the threat that the Obama administration potentially poses to such freedom.
But then, why should they be concerned? As long as they keep their focus on Romney’s hair, and never attempt a genuinely timely and topical piece of filmmaking, they’re safe. Explains a lot about the current state of television, doesn’t it?