Whedonesque : Comments on 12876 : Danny Strong writes 'Recount' screenplay for HBO.

Wow, that is amazing! Great stuff, Danny. And Sydney Pollack is an excellent director. He certainly has a great eye for talent, too. And the subject matter is very juicy.

crossoverman | April 02, 12:09 CET

I remember him from the High Stakes party. He's a total election wonk who knows what will happen to the results at point A if effect B takes place. This is probably a very personal project for him. And, hell yeah, good for him!

dreamlogic | April 02, 12:09 CET

I met him at a con once. He's a great guy, very funny and very talented.

Simon | April 02, 12:37 CET

Oh, well, if we're name-dropping, I met Sydney Pollack once - a very smart, generous actor/director. He talked about working with Kubrick and Woody Allen. He talked about producing The Talented Mr Ripley.

Danny Strong is very lucky to have Pollack on board.

crossoverman | April 02, 12:41 CET

I really enjoyed The Electric Horseman, it's a fantastic film.

Simon | April 02, 13:08 CET

Damn, good for him! How cool is that! How many exclamation points can I use in one post?!?!!

Looking forward to this - would love to see a good piece about the 2000 election, as long as it doesn't shoot my blood pressure up to dangerous levels.

Oddly, we had the infamous "demon chads" mentioned already in the Cheney/Wolfram & Hart thread.

Just so you'all know, I've never met Danny Strong, Sydney Pollack or Dick Cheney, though I'd like to meet two out of three of them...

QuoterGal | April 02, 13:12 CET

That's so awesome.

Also if some of you don't already, you should really watch Gilmore Girls as he and Paris are positively hilarious on it. Especially when they are doing yoga and sexy dances.

Storyteller | April 02, 14:27 CET

I have met both Danny (what a great person he is!) and Sydney Pollack (met him in the mid-70's; he was a very smart and charming man). This is a fitting project for Danny (and Pollack), and once more puts me in awe of the man.

[ edited by Nebula1400 on 2007-04-02 18:46 ]

Nebula1400 | April 02, 15:16 CET

Good for Danny, Sidney Pollack's definitely a great choice for this ('The Electric Horseman' is good but edged out by 'Tootsie' and 'The Way we Were' for me). I just hope they stick to their remit and avoid commenting too much from a party politics point of view (got a feeling if they simply tell the story honestly there'll be plenty of controversy anyway).

(also, doesn't Simon look exactly like Tom Lenk ? ... Oh, hang on. Nevermind ;)

Saje | April 02, 15:31 CET

Clearly a very clever fellow, D.S. I think I'm really looking forward to seeing this, though I get where you're coming from on the blood pressure, QuoterGal. I still boil every time I think about it.

toast | April 02, 15:33 CET

Hey QuoterGal I'm sure you'll get to meet Dick Cheney soon. He wants to meet you.

Say, that could be a tag line for a one sheet for a horror movie. Produced by Eli Roth, it's torture porn at it's best.

I'm excited for Danny though. What a sweet gig.

RazorBlade | April 02, 15:37 CET

This is great news. I'm very excited for Danny.

[ edited by Ameer on 2007-04-02 12:49 ]

Ameer | April 02, 15:47 CET

This is big time! It is so great for Danny Strong.

I agree that there will be plenty of drama without needing to take sides on this one. Probably a bunch of films about those couple weeks could be made about totally different things that were going on.

newcj | April 02, 15:47 CET

GO Danny! *sniffle* Our little boy is growing up...oh wait. ;-)

And RazorBlade, trust me - Eli would draw the line at something THAT horrific. Besides, his parents would *kill* him! LOL!

OzLady | April 02, 16:49 CET

Wow, impressive. Way to go, Danny. This sounds like an incredible project.

punkinpuss | April 02, 19:13 CET

Wow. Just, wow. I'm so proud of "our Jonathan." Wow.

phlebotinin | April 02, 21:21 CET

Excellent news.

I always kind of thought Ethan Rayne had something to do with the chad fiasco. So much chaos!

lycoming | April 02, 21:31 CET

Now that's a movie I'd love to see. Fantastic news for Danny, I hope it's a great success and brings him more opportunities.

yourlibrarian | April 02, 22:10 CET

I was also lucky enough to meet Danny and get my photo with him, but I had no idea he was a writer. This is really an impressive achievement with it being carefully researched and sold to HBO and all! I'll definitely make sure I get to see this (I hope we'll get the actual date for next year's airing so I can mark my calendar).

Now that I think of it, I shouldn't be surprised: we know from 'Superstar' that there is nothing this boy can't do!

[ edited by embers on 2007-04-02 19:17 ]

embers | April 02, 22:16 CET

Speaking as someone who lives in Florida, I would think it would be difficult to leave politics totally out of the film, since politics was behind the decisions being made regarding the exclusion of certain qualified people from voting. (This is independent of the chad issue.) And, of course, one has to accept the "official" number of votes separating the candidates, although boxes of uncounted ballots were allegedly found hidden away after the final vote was called. However, I'm assuming the points of view of those interviewed or represented will be balanced.

In any case, I think this is great news. Congrats to Danny.

palehorse | April 02, 22:25 CET

Yeah, I mean they should avoid partisan politics and just let the facts speak for themselves. Compare Michael Moore who IMO makes entertaining films but is willing to bend the truth (or at least spin it a certain way) to make his point. To me that's just playing right into the hands of opponents and does the issues being addressed a disservice.

Clearly though it'd be pretty hard to make a film about an election and leave politics out of it ;).

Saje | April 03, 00:04 CET

Wow. Selling your first screenplay and Sidney Pollack directs it...a guy could do a lot worse.

bobster | April 03, 00:24 CET

Wow, big congrats to Danny. I'm so proud and happy for him.

Reddygirl | April 03, 05:00 CET

Danny Strong's getting his script directed by Sydney Pollack? There's not a spell involved, is there?

(Kidding!)

JesterInACast | April 03, 06:12 CET

Jane Espenson blogs her congratulations to Danny! Well, she did make him a superstar...

crossoverman | April 03, 09:23 CET

Fantastic! Maybe we'll finally understand what the heck happended down there in 2000...

Course, Danny is probably going to get his income tax return audited by the IRS!

stevekaw | April 03, 11:28 CET

Yay Danny! This is just amazing and totally rockin'! :-)

billz | April 03, 13:57 CET

palehorse wrote:

Speaking as someone who lives in Florida, I would think it would be difficult to leave politics totally out of the film, since politics was behind the decisions being made regarding the exclusion of certain qualified people from voting. (This is independent of the chad issue.) And, of course, one has to accept the "official" number of votes separating the candidates, although boxes of uncounted ballots were allegedly found hidden away after the final vote was called.

Yes, I don't see how they will be able to avoid addressing this. They even mention Katherine Harris right in the article. What's more political than Katherine Harris and Karl Rove? I mean, come on. The entire event is soiled with partisan monkeying.

I say this as yet another very cynical resident of Florida.

chickenbird | April 03, 18:40 CET

April 02 2007