Special relationship: the movie

The writer behind Frost/Nixon turns director to film Blair/Clinton

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
Arts & Ents blogs

Looking Forward To The Past: A chat with Poker Flat boss Steve Bug

One of the main reasons I became so obsessive with house and techno music was a live DJ set by Germa...

Mario & Vidis: An album makes you rethink what you’ve been doing

In 2007 Marijus Adomaitis teamed up with Vidmantas Cepkauskas to form Mario & Vidis – Lithuania...

Beth Jeans Houghton interview: “I hate London”

Falling from the limelight is often damaging to any artist and devastating at the start of a career....

As one of Britain's most prolific screenwriters, Peter Morgan has delighted cinema audiences with his depictions of Idi Amin, Richard Nixon, Tony Blair and the Queen.

But after 25 years of writing some of the most memorable movies, Morgan is to swap the relatively safe distance of the screenplay for the director's chair. He will launch his directorial career with The Special Relationship, an HBO film which focuses on the rapport between Mr Blair and Bill Clinton.

The project may test his mettle after revelations that Dennis Quaid and Julianne Moore had been cast as Bill and Hillary Clinton, while Michael Sheen, with whom Morgan has worked extensively in the past, will star as Mr Blair.

The film is due to be given the green light "imminently", with filming expected to begin in just over 10 weeks. A source said Morgan was "very excited" by the prospect.

While his talents as a director are yet to be discovered, Morgan, 45, has certainly proved to have the Midas touch as a writer. He been nominated for an Oscar for The Queen, dramatising the aftermath of the Princess of Wales's death in 1997, and Frost/Nixon, about the shamed American president and his television inquisitor, David Frost. He also co-wrote the screenplay for The Last King of Scotland, based on the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime, and can add The Damned United and The Other Boleyn Girl to his credits.

This latest film is the third part of his "Blair Trilogy", which began with The Deal, looking at relations between Mr Blair and Gordon Brown, followed by The Queen. Such is Morgan's influence as a screenwriter that he has been credited with pioneering his own genre of films, which blend fact with fiction to create dramas that explore the psychologies of compelling public figures.

While the industry ostensibly welcomed Morgan's transition from writer to director, the career move is regarded by some as a gamble that many screenwriters never dare to take – to turn to the coalface of film-making, complete with the tribulations of managing the talents and egos of leading actors.

Nick James, the editor of the British Film Institute's magazine, Sight and Sound, said the transition is rarely encouraged but that there was no reason Morgan should not succeed. "It's always a bit of a leap and screenwriters becoming directors is a move that is rarely encouraged by the industry, but some screenwriters are doing it now, such as Tony Grisoni and Charlie Kaufman, so it's in the air. "You only have to look at the Blair screenplays to realise they are superb pieces of work. His career has been explosive. He came out of nowhere and almost everything he has touched has turned to gold. I'm sure he's been very keenly involved in past films he's worked on and will know what he's doing. You're much more at the sticky end when you're directing, but the experienced actors he has on board will help him through," he said.

Speaking of his plans for the final part of his Blair trilogy, Morgan called Mr Blair the "definitive modern politician" and said this latest film project was a way of dramatising George Bush's years, without actually featuring him in the drama. "Everything that happened pre-9/11 is now Jurassic history and we've completely forgotten it and therefore to explore what happened 10 or 15 years ago is really interesting," he said. "I'm trying to tell in metaphor the story of the Bush years, so I'm hoping that all the questions you'd want me to tackle about Bush and Blair will be tackled in microcosm in Blair/Clinton."

Morgan was initially attracted to the stage and joined a drama group at Leeds University, but gave up acting after a bout of stage fright and set about writing plays. In 1984, he experienced his first real taste of success with his co-written play Gross, which won an award at Edinburgh.

Critics seem to be united in their belief that everything he has touched since has been successful.

Writers turned directors

Charlie Kaufman

The writer of films including Being John Malkovich, which earned an Oscar nomination, Human Nature and Adaptation, made his directorial debut with Syndoche, New York, last year. The film was about a theatre director struggling with his work and the women in his life.

Woody Allen

Allen started out by writing scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and Caesar's Hour. He also wrote short stories and cartoon captions for magazines and became a successful Broadway playwright, before making his name as a director of quirky comedies including Annie Hall and Hannah and her Sisters.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

No secularism please, we're British

No secularism please, we're British

Arguments about the role of religion in national life have recently acquired a new urgency
Harold Tillman: 'Chinese tourists can save the high street – if we let them'

Harold Tillman interview

'Chinese tourists can save the high street – if we let them'
Working as a jail torturer ruined my life

Working as a jail torturer ruined my life

Meet the former soldier who has joined the political prisoners he tortured in Turkey's Mamak prison by suing the generals who led a regime of terror
The local high street jet shop

The local high street jet shop

Got a spare $50m and can't stand the queues at Heathrow? Get yourself down to London's first private plane dealership
Do you like your doctor? It could be the death of you

Do you like your doctor?

It could be the death of you...
The mysterious affair of how Agatha Christie is teaching foreigners English

How Agatha Christie is teaching foreigners English

Twenty of the author's novels have been adapted and presented with learning notes and a CD
Six Grammys, five years off: Adele puts love before career

Six Grammys, five years off

Adele puts love before career
The 10 Best binoculars

The 10 Best binoculars

From no-frills to bins with digital cameras
Milan for £300

Milan for £300?

A cultural family holiday - on a budget - to Italy's most stylish city
'Black-hole' resorts: Turn up, tune out, log off

'Black-hole' resorts

Turn up, tune out, log off
New Arsenal face an old question of credibility in San Siro

New Arsenal face an old question of credibility in San Siro

Remodelled since winning in Milan in 2008, for all their consistency – and prize-money – Wenger's side are yet to claim a European title
James Lawton: This prodigal son deserves no forgiveness

James Lawton: This prodigal son deserves no forgiveness

City would be putting their desire to win title ahead of morals if Tevez plays for them
Mark Cavendish: Is Olympic gold at end of the rainbow?

Mark Cavendish interview

Is Olympic gold at end of the rainbow?
Apple admits it has a human rights problem

Apple admits it has a human rights problem

After years of complaints and workers' suicides in China the technology giant faces up to the human cost of its gadgets
Peter Moore: 'I feel guilty I'm the only one alive'

Peter Moore interview

'I feel guilty I'm the only one alive'