When you talk about “State of Play,” there are really two versions of the same work out there.
The first is the acclaimed and award-winning 2003 BBC One mini-series from the original “Shameless” and “Clocking Off” creator Paul Abbott, and one of the best screen works about journalism since “All the President’s Men”.
The story begins when a young female researcher working for politician Stephen Collins (David Morrissey) is killed on the London Underground. Journalist Cal McCaffrey (John Simm) and his editor Cameron Foster (Bill Nighy) investigate, uncovering a complex story involving links between government and the oil industry. James McAvoy, Polly Walker, Tom Burke, Philip Glenister, Benedict Wong and Kelly Macdonald co-starred. Nighy won a best actor BAFTA award for his role.
The second version came in 2009, a loose $60 million-budget U.S. remake at Universal Pictures, which put Affleck as Collins, Russell Crowe as McCaffrey, and Helen Mirren as the editor but shifted the overall theme to America’s privatised military companies as well as heavily compressing the narrative. Reviews weren’t as stellar but were still fairly positive overall, though at the box office it was a dud – pulling in just $88.8 million worldwide.
Originally, scribe Matthew Michael Carnahan (“The Kingdom, Deepwater Horizon”) adapted the work for film but had to leave due to a personal matter. A trio of high-profile writers, including Tony Gilroy (“Andor”), Peter Morgan (“The Queen”) and Billy Ray (“Shattered Glass”), all did a pass on it too.
The movie was helmed by Scottish filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (“Black Sea,” “The Last King of Scotland”), who this weekend appeared at the Edinburgh Film Festival, where he offered a brief story about the film when discussing his Hollywood movies. He says (via Deadline:
“I didn’t realize at the time, but looking back, that was a pivotal film in Hollywood, as well as for me, because it was sort of the end [of an era]. Donna Langley mentioned it too when she did Desert Island Discs. It was a turning point movie for her at Universal and the rest of Hollywood because it was conceived as an all-star, intelligent thriller for adults at $100 million. Can you imagine that today?”
The project was also going to be a star vehicle for Brad Pitt and so MacDonald and Tony Gilroy “spent two months in his apartment, rewriting the script, spending untold amounts of money, and then showed it to Brad Pitt, and he hated it.”
He adds that the film was the “tail end of a certain kind of wasteful Hollywood filmmaking,” but was economical in other ways, with almost everything shot on soundstages.
MacDonald most recently directed the Gal Gadot-led “The Runner” which hasn’t set a release date.
The “State of Play” film is available on VOD & Cinemax in the U.S. and on VOD and Paramount+ in Australia. The original “State of Play” miniseries is on DVD in various countries and on VOD and Stan in Australia.
