Willie Stark is a southern-fried governor and politician, a character loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana. He starts out as an everyman from a rural county seat, but along the way, he loses that "innocence" and becomes just as corrupt as those men he had previously criticized. Although his idealism is quickly shed, Stark's right-hand man, Jack Burden, is still a man who lives by the straight and narrow. As a result, Burden becomes little more than a thorn in his boss's side.
The film is being adapted from the classic Robert Penn Warren novel, which many book critics and scholars call one of the greatest political satires in history. The story has previously been adapted to a feature film in 1949 and to television in 1958. For this 21st century update, Sean Penn is already set to star as Willie Stark, with Jude Law starring alongside him as the moralistic thorn in the side Jack Burden. Writer/director Steven Zaillian, who is best known for writing the Academy Award winning screenplay for Schindler's List, heads up the production. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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