A John McCain Biopic is in Development
Stampede Ventures is set to produce a feature film biopic based on the life of John McCain and it will be based on the biography that they acquired, The Luckiest Man: Life With John McCain, which was written by the late Arizona senator’s political adviser and friend, Mark Salter.
Salter is co-writing the script with producer Craig Turk (The Good Wife, FBI) and the film is being made with support from McCain’s family. His widow, Cindy McCain, will serve as an executive producer. She said in a statement:
“John’s story is one of incredible heroism, of serving causes greater than his own self-interest. There is no better time to tell it. I’m excited to share his life and legacy, and know this film will be a tremendous inspiration to people all over the world.”
Turk added, “Working for John McCain was one of the great honors of my professional life. Having the opportunity to bring his life to the screen — and to do it with people I admire as much as Greg, Mark, and Cindy — is an incredible privilege.”
Salter went on to say, “I’ve been helping to tell John McCain’s story for three decades. It will be a special privilege to work with Craig, Greg and the McCain family to tell it in film.”
Stampede Ventures founder and CEO Greg Silverman also said, “It has been a long time wish of mine to collaborate with the brilliant Craig Turk, and it seems more fitting than ever that we tell the story of one of America’s greatest public servants and believers in our democratic system. It is Stampede Ventures’ honor to celebrate the valor and character of John McCain, working with his family and loved ones to produce this inspiring American story.”
To give you an idea of what we can expect from the film, here’s a description from the book:
A deeply personal and candid remembrance of the late Senator John McCain from one of his closest and most trusted confidants, friends, and political advisors.
More so than almost anyone outside of McCain’s immediate family, Mark Salter had unparalleled access to and served to influence the Senator’s thoughts and actions, cowriting seven books with him and acting as a valued confidant. Now, in The Luckiest Man, Salter draws on the storied facets of McCain’s early biography as well as the later-in-life political philosophy for which the nation knew and loved him, delivering an intimate and comprehensive account of McCain’s life and philosophy.
Salter covers all the major events of McCain’s life—his peripatetic childhood, his naval service—but introduces, too, aspects of the man that the public rarely saw and hardly knew. Woven throughout this narrative is also the story of Salter and McCain’s close relationship, including how they met, and why their friendship stood the test of time in a political world known for its fickle personalities and frail bonds.
Through Salter’s revealing portrayal of one of our country’s finest public servants, McCain emerges as both the man we knew him to be and also someone entirely new. Glimpses of his restlessness, his curiosity, his courage, and sentimentality are rendered with sensitivity and care—as only Mark Salter could provide. The capstone to Salter’s intimate and decades-spanning time with the Senator, The Luckiest Man is the authoritative last word on the stories McCain was too modest to tell himself and an influential life not soon to be forgotten.