THE FRONT RUNNER

[jo]

jordan777black @thehughjackman (hard,mirthless stare...hands clenched into fists

eatmpancakes You've got that politician "talking fist" down pat already !

[carouselkathy]

Good Director and great lead actor. Can't wait!

[jo]

Aaron Gilbert is founder/producer/financier of BRON Studios.

[jo]

coral_barry@_angelicamiller OKAY UH what school do we need to go transfer to in order to hear Hugh Jackman lecture

kayuhimself Professor Logan?

Those were said in jest ... but

Will the movie also attract students? The young minds are often those who first recognize leaders!

Were you ever part of a student body listening to a national political leader?

I was -- when I was at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, I went to hear Sen Edward Kennedy ( national senator from Massachusetts) make a speech to the student body. On my way out of the auditorium, guess who crossed my path directly as I was going back to my dorm? The Senator himself - I wasn't shy ...and thanked him and even asked for his autograph


Jo

[jo]

Entertainment Weekly picks up the first filming photo of THE FRONT RUNNER --

ew.com/movies/2017/09/18/hugh-jackman-front-runner-first-image-gary-hart/

Hugh Jackman reveals first image as Gary Hart in The Front Runner

Jason Reitman is directing the political comedy
Anthony Breznican@Breznican
Posted on September 18, 2017 at 6:22pm EDT


Bron Studios

“Politics in this country — take it from me — is on the verge of becoming another form of athletic competition or sporting match. … I tremble for my country when I think we may, in fact, get the kind of leaders we deserve.”

That was a prescient line from the final speech of Senator Gary Hart’s presidential bid in 1987, when he withdrew from the race amid a personal scandal involving a model, a yacht, and press that was no longer willing to overlook such indiscretions.

Could he have still been a strong president? We’ll never know.


Hart was paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson, and in this new image, we see Hugh Jackman channeling Hart for a scene in director Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner, which started shooting today in Georgia.

Reitman has described the film as a comedy, but one with bittersweet undertones. In his prime, Hart was considered an expert on foreign policy, someone who foresaw the rise of extremism in the Middle East and the collapse of the Soviet Union as the Cold War became a different kind of adversarial relationship.

That fell apart when the media began investigating a photograph of him with model Donna Rice on his lap at a party on a yacht with the wince-inducing name Monkey Business.

Hart is still married to his wife, Lee (played in the film by Vera Farmiga, a Reitman veteran from Up in the Air), and the couple will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary next year. But the scandal eroded his presidential campaign, and some theorize it contributed to chasing good people away from public service because their personal lives were imperfect.




“Like anyone, I look at the political landscape right now and just wonder how we got here,” Reitman told EW in June. “There isn’t any one answer, but Matt Bai’s book about the Hart candidacy raised interesting questions and offered a thread I wanted to pull.”


The film is based on Bai’s 2014 book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid, and Bai co-wrote the script with Reitman and former Hillary Clinton spokesman Jay Carson, who is also a producer on House of Cards.

You can check out the full cast of The Front Runner in this gallery.

The Front Runner is being produced independently by Aaron Gilbert (Fences), Helen Estabrook (Whiplash), and Reitman through Gilbert’s production company Bron Studios.

[jo]

The name " Hugh Jackman" is always a sure-fire come-on to film sites --

collider.com/hugh-jackman-the-front-runner-image/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=collidersocial&utm_medium=social

Hugh Jackman Reveals First-Look Image for Jason Reitman’s ‘The Front Runner’
by Haleigh Foutch     September 18, 2017





Hugh Jackman has debuted the first-look image for Jason Reitman’s upcoming political drama, The Front Runner. Based on Matt Bai‘s 2014 book ‘All the Truth Is Out’, The Front Runner kicked off filming today and stars Jackman as Gary Hart, the Democratic politician who was considered the frontrunner for the 1988 presidential race when his campaign was rocked by allegations of an extramarital affair with actress Donna Rice, prompting the senator to drop out of the race.

The Front Runner marks Reitman’s return to political fare for the first time since his debut feature Thank You for Smoking, which satirized the absurdity of Washington lobbyists and will chronicle the rise and fall of the candidate, his personal life, and the turning point in American media where tabloid journalism and personal indiscretions became fair game for political candidates. Get a first look at Jackman as the ill-fated politician in the image below.

The Front Runner also stars Reitman regular J.K. Simmons as Hart’s campaign manager and longtime friend Billy Dixon; Vera Farmiga, who earned an Oscar nomination for her work Reitman’s Up in the Air, as Hart’s devoted wife Lee, who weathers the controversial storm; Mamoudou Athie (The Detour) as The Washington Post reporter A.J. Parker; Josh Brenner (Silicon Valley) as Hart’s key foreign policy advisor Doug Wilson; Kaitlyn Dever (Men, Women and Children) as Hart’s daughter; Sarah Paxton (Cheap Thrills) as Donna Rice, the model and actress who became the catalyst for the scandal; Ari Graynor (I’m Dying Up Here) as White House correspondent Ann Devroy;and Tommy Dewey (Casual) as Hart’s deputy campaign manager John Emerson.

Molly Ephraim, Spencer Garrett, Toby Huss, Mike Judge, Alex Karpovsky, Mark O’Brien, Kevin Pollack, and Steve Zissis round out the cast as other key members of the media or Hart’s campaign. The Front Runner’s release date is TBD.

[jo]

Across the pond, EMPIRE.com also picks up the first image/story on the first day of filming --

www.empireonline.com/people/hugh-jackman/hugh-jackman-offers-first-look-front-runner-role/

Hugh Jackman Offers A First Look At His Front Runner Role


Jason Reitman had a lot of fun in a politics-adjacent arena with Thank You For Smoking. He's jumping fully into the political side of things with his latest, The Front Runner, which has just started shooting. The star of the movie is Hugh Jackman, who has used his twitter account to debut a look at his role.

Jackman is playing real-life US politician Gary Hart, who was part of a fascinating, controversial story. Hart, a charismatic senator from Colorado became the Democratic frontrunner for the presidential nomination in 1988, and all seemed to be going well until a political and personal landmine detonated, with news breaking that he had had an affair, and he dropped out of the race. The rest of the story saw Michael Dukakis scoring the nomination and losing to George HW Bush.

Reitman wrote the script alongside political journalist Matt Bai and former Hilary Clinton press secretary Jay Carson, adapting Bai's 2015 book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid. The focus besides the story will be on how the scandal opened up a fresh vein in American politics and the media, with personal stories once more becoming fair game.

The cast for the film also includes J.K. Simmons (a Reitman fixture), Vera Farmiga (who scored an Oscar nomination for the director's Up In The Air), Mamoudou Athie, Josh Brener, Sarah Paxton, Ari Graynor and Tommy Dewey (who has his own Reitman connection through Hulu series Casual). As of right now, there is no official release date for the movie.

Hugh Jackman Will Be A Senator In The Front Runner.

From Wolverine to Senator!

From Valjean to Barnum!


About time!!

[jo]

Other film blog sites also took note of the news on the first day of filming of THE FRONT RUNNER --

www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/888575-hugh-jackman-tweets-a-pic-from-day-one-of-the-front-runner



A Spanish site picks up the news and the images --

www.cinescondite.com/2017/09/18/the-front-runner-primer-vistazo/


Gary and Lee Hart



A Portuguese site also takes note...and includes a video of 5 non-Wolverine roles for HJ, presumably to highlight his versatility as an actor.

www.cinemanews2.com.br/wp/the-front-runner-hugh-jackman-como-gary-hart-na-primeira-imagem-oficial/





www.darkhorizons.com/first-photo-hugh-jackman-is-the-front-runner/

Interersting comments on the feedback section -- here's one

Dirty Frank • 41 minutes ago
If only a bit of extra marital bowchikawowow was all it took to get rid of a yank politician these days. Now, allegations of rape, technical pedophilia, fraud, sexual debasement, incitement to commit assault, potential treason, outright racism, homophobia and probably early stage dementia aren't even enough to do the f/cking job. In fact, apparently, it makes you President. Who knew eh? I bet Gary Hart is kicking himself these days. You ran too soon, Gary, you were a man ahead of your time.

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BZM9g8igtcg

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BZMDBNsHqc7

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BZL0E1ZAC1e

[jo]

Costume choices, circa 1987!

http://instagram.com/p/BYZspdNFdw7

[jo]

I have absolutely no idea what they are

But they are supposed to be film props...from circa 1987

http://instagram.com/p/BYysDMInt8M

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BY_gZh0HLxu

[jo]

More attention from filmblog sites --

screenrant.com/hugh-jackman-first-image-jason-reitmas-front-runner-gary-hart/


Excerpts --

Based on "All the Truth is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid" by Matt Bai, The Front Runner tracks the rise of Hart from his days as a Colorado senator to his run for the Democratic nomination in ’88 when he was positioned as the inspiring Kennedy-style candidate. Hart was considered the front runner when news of his affair with model Donna Rice broke in the legitimate press and then, in a prelude to the explosion of sensationalism that would sweep the media in the next decade, became fodder for innumerable lurid tabloid headlines. Hart was forced to withdraw in disgrace, leading to the eventual nomination of Michael Dukakis who went on to be crushed in the presidential race by George H.W. Bush. Many still wonder how American history might have been different had the dynamic Hart gone on to oppose Bush instead of the relatively bland Dukakis.



The Front Runner marks the return of writer-director Jason Reitman to the kind of topical filmmaking he has mostly shied away from since his well-reviewed debut feature Thank You For Smoking where he tackled the powerful D.C. tobacco lobby. Reitman’s career hit a peak in 2009 when his film Up in the Air snagged six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Reitman’s last film, 2014’s Men, Women & Children, made relatively little impact despite a timely story and impressive cast.


With the decidedly dynamic and ever-theatrical Jackman in the lead, perhaps Reitman can get people interested in his depiction of a political scandal that has largely been forgotten over the years, becoming completely overshadowed by subsequent bombshell political stories including president Bill Clinton’s own sordid, tabloid-fueled sex scandal. Reitman himself has described the movie as a comedy with a bittersweet quality, and has said he is making the film to help understand how the political and media landscapes evolved to become what they are today...

The "ever-theatrical" description is with reference to Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Barnum in THE GREATEST SHOWMAN.



And it's good to see excitement over a new film project that is more of an indie ( although backed by a Canadian film studio) --

movieweb.com/front-runner-movie-hugh-jackman-gary-hart-photo/

[jo]

Hugh trying to look grim ( and serious as a politician), as Gary Hart

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4898066/Huigh-Jackman-doomed-Gary-Hart-filming-begins-Runner.html













His mini-sideburns have turned a little grey ( to look be more Gary-like)

And his flared pants evoke the '80's



Jo

[jo]

[jo]

It looks like he is not yet acting... he was on the way to the set and likely collecting his thoughts as an actor ( trying to put himself in character)! Or trying to memorize his lines

[jo]

www.joblo.com/movie-news/get-your-first-look-at-hugh-jackman-in-jason-reitman-s-the-front-runner-227


Quite a few who are interested in photography think this is a very interesting graphical representation!





And it seems people are also interested in this type of films -- a story that that explores realism in the cultural and political landscape.

LatestBestEditor's PickMore

Grelber37 905 points
an hour ago


I love it. I did not know that this project was out there. Hart's scandal is a very important
event in politics and journalism. The Front Runner should educate those who have never
heard of the affair. And, it might be great food for thought for everyone.

[jo]

The trade paper The Hollywood Reporter reports on the filming start of THE FRONTRUNNER.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/first-hugh-jackman-gary-hart-photo-jason-reitmans-frontrunner-1041056

The film marks Oscar-nominated (for Juno) director Jason Reitman’s second political project and a reteaming with Bron Studios, which will fianace his next film Tully, starring Charlize Theron and written by Diablo Cody. His first political venture, Thank You for Smoking, provided a glimpse into Washington lobbyists.

Following Jackman, Reitman also shared a picture from The Front Runner set on his instagram. The political drama is currently filming in Georgia.

The Front Runner will adapt Matt Bai’s 2014 book, All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid, chronicling Hart’s rise and fall. Despite Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis' eventually landing the Democratic nomination in 1988, Hart’s story marked a revolutionary moment in American politics and media, jump-starting the idea of personal imprudence as fair game in campaigns.

The focus of this movie is attracting attention maybe because of heightened political awareness these days, even the world over. Will it translate to a universal box office appeal?

[jo]

http://instagr.am/p/BZOdKzUgLAg

[jo]

Behind-the-scenes or on-set ?

http://instagram.com/p/BZPfsqaD0S3

[jo]

Interesting comments on the Spencer Garrett Instagram post --

margaretjane1Talked to John Emerson recently at a reception. He was effusive about the movie. Can't wait to see it!

jsmayankWho's winning?


spencergarrett1@jsmayank I let The Senator win. You never know when those claws are gonna come out...

Lol - they're still very much in awe of Wolverine


Jo

[jo]

LOLOL! I can't believe I did not recognize HUGH JACKMAN at first glance


I thought I had a handle on how he looks like, no matter the makeup changes

http://instagram.com/p/BZP-jBQDYfc

*It's the wig

*It's the grey in his hair

*It's how they reshaped the eyebrows a little


But the smile is still there

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BZP-jBQDYfc

I never had any difficulties recognizing Blackbeard, despite the pasty makeup and the funny wig.

Tom in a bubble in space, despite the bald pate, was still true Hugh!

Valjean, at his most abject convict best, was definitely Jackman!

Even the aged look of Logan did not hide his real looks.

And the villainy look of Vincent, including his mullet hairstyle, had Hugh's strong and chiseled features!


But this one... this is going to take some getting used to



Jo