Given the chance, who wouldn’t vote for George Clooney? A suave personality, that winning smile and the certain knowledge that, should your presence ever be requested by him, he’s got a Nespresso machine so he can serve you a decent cup of coffee.
But, come next year’s Oscars, it’ll be Ryan Gosling who we’d imagine will be representing The Ides Of March in the Best Actor category.
As for Clooney, he’ll probably have to “make do” with a directing nod.
Gosling (above) plays Stephen Meyers, an integral part of Governor Mike Morris’s (Clooney) election team for the Democratic primaries, working under the guidance of campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Morris is the favourite, but his chances begin to fade when Meyers stumbles upon some unsavoury details about his private life. And the bad news doesn’t end there for Gosling’s character, as he’s also forced to fend off the opposition’s scheming campaign manager, played by Paul Giamatti, and Marisa Tomei’s snooping reporter.
The film is based on the 2008 play Farragut North, which is in turn based on the 2004 Democratic primary campaign of Howard Dean, whose successful use of the internet as an election tool was effectively replicated by Barack Obama four years later.
If The Ides Of March’s awards season campaign team have been paying as close attention as Obama’s staff clearly were, this could be the big winner at the Kodak Theatre come February 2012.
The Ides Of March is at the London Film Festival on 19 October and at cinemas from 28 October
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