Carey Mulligan has reportedly turned down an offer to play the lead role in a upcoming Hillary Clinton biopic.
Last week, it was reported that The Great Gatsby actress had emerged as the filmmakers favourite to play Clinton during her younger years as a student, lawyer and rising politician, and was later offered the part after meeting director James Ponsoldt.
However, according to Hollywood Reporter, Mulligan turned down the offer as she “wasn’t prepared to commit to the role at this time”. Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Chastin and Reese Witherspoon have been linked to the role in the past, and sources close to production stress their names are still in the mix.
Titled Rodham, the biopic will focus on Hillary’s formative years as a student and her subsequent rise in the world of politics. The film’s script by up-and-coming screenwriter Young-il Kim was leaked last month (May) and apparently features some surprisingly risque moments, including one where Hillary and Bill, then her boyfriend, “devour each other” before Bill “buries his head into her cleavage”.
However, Kim has since played this down this aspect of the film’s script, telling The Daily Telegraph: “I didn’t write 50 Shades Of Rodham, as some news outlets are suggesting. I am a boring prude with little imagination.”
At present, it’s unknown if Rodham has secured full funding, but the makers are reportedly aiming for a 2016 release date to coincide with the next US Presidential campaign, in which Hillary Clinton could be a candidate.