HBO’s sequel to “Game Change,” about the 2008 election, is not happening anytime soon, according to director Jay Roach.
While they hold the rights to the book “Game Change: Double Down” by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, the authors, Roach and writer Danny Strong never found a self-contained story withing the sprawling chronicle of the 2012 presidential election to make into a two-hour movie.
“What I loved about doing ‘Game Change’ is I only made it about two chapters of that whole book that I thought was contained enough to be a two-hour movie,” Roach told TheWrap during the Television Critics Association winter press tour. “It was a little easier with that story than any of the ones I’ve figured out how to do with the sequel. There were a lot of interesting parts about that book, I love those writers, but we – Danny Strong and I and Halperin and Heilemann – we just didn’t find the clean two-hour version of it.”
“Game Change,” the film, focused primarily on John McCain’s choice of little known Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. But while “Game Change” came out in 2012 just in time for Mitt Romney’s challenge of Barack Obama’s reelection, the director doesn’t feel any pressure to deliver “Double Down” in time for 2016.
“I really loved telling the Sarah Palin story at that time because there was something about it that was so Shakespearean but immediate and modern, but other stories I think might be better time goes by,” he said. “After there’s more perspective. I think Obama might be interesting in a different way after he’s out of office than while he is in office, for example. I hope someday – I just love working with those guys. I’d love to do it someday.”
Roach’s latest film, “All the Way,” starring Bryan Cranston as Lyndon B. Johnson, premieres on HBO in May.