Tracing the 1988 campaign of then US Presidential candidate Gary Hart is “The Front Runner,” targeting release right after the US’s 2018 House of Representative midterm elections.
Directed by Jason Reitman of “Juno” and “Up in the Air,” November debut “The Front Runner” tracks the 1988 Presidential bid of Colorado Senator Gary Hart.
Hart had emerged as frontrunner for nomination as the Democratic party’s presidential candidate and was predicted to beat incumbent George W. Bush in the election, but his runaway bid was derailed in part by accusations that he was involved in an extramarital affair.
Joining Hugh Jackman in the film are Vera Farmiga, J. K. Simmons, Alfred Molina and Sara Paxton.
Farmiga plays Hart’s wife, Lee, and Paxton plays Donna Rice, the actress and model with whom he was said to have had the affair.
Appropriately enough, “The Front Runner” premieres August 31 at the Telluride film festival in Colorado, with a limited US theatrical opening timed for November 7, right after the country votes in House, Senate and Governor elections on November 6, before a wide opening on November 21.
