US News

Hillary Clinton biopic nixed

WASHINGTON – The director of a controversial Hollywood-style biopic about Hillary Clinton has cancelled the project – citing pressure from protective Clinton aides and Republicans.

The prospect of a full-length film about Clinton – a possible 2016 presidential contender – provoked a boycott by the Republican National Committee, which said it wouldn’t participate in presidential debates on CNN as a result.

But it was interference put up by Clintonland that the director, Charles Ferguson, cited first in a missive on the Huffington Post website.

He said Philippe Reines, Clinton’s longtime aide, “contacted various people at CNN, interrogated them, and expressed concern about alleged conflicts of interest” in the film. When he tried to call Reines, Ferguson said he got the cold shoulder.

Another Clinton aide, Nick Merrill “interrogated me,” Ferguson wrote.
But when
he sought an off-the-record conversation with Clinton, Merrill said she was busy and not speaking to the media.

The extended family of present and former Clinton staffers apparently got the memo not to talk.

“I would have loved to explore all this. But when I approached people for interviews, I discovered that nobody, and I mean nobody, was interested in helping me make this film,” Ferguson wrote.

“Not Democrats, not Republicans — and certainly nobody who works with the Clintons, wants access to the Clintons, or dreams of a position in a Hillary Clinton administration.”

“After approaching well over a hundred people, only two persons who had ever dealt with Mrs. Clinton would agree to an on-camera interview, and I suspected that even they would back out,” he wrote.

The documentary, set to air in the 2014congressional election year, was one of two bursts of free publicity set to come Clinton’s way.

NBC Entertainment plans to make a mini-series about Clinton that Chuck Todd, the network’s White House correspondent, has called a “nightmare” for the company because of the appearance of a conflict.

Although NBC and MSNBC news divisions are separate from the entertainment division, the decision reflects on the entire outfit, he observed on the air.

The RNC voted to ban CNN and NBC from the presidential debates, assuming they would effectively be free Clinton infomercials.

But it appears Ferguson wasn’t planning to give Clinton a free pass and was planning to examine her benefactors..

He was pegged their estimated net worth at $200 million, mentioned their relationship with Arkansas-based Wallmart and Tyson Foods, and noted the multi-million donations that Saudi Arabia has given to the Clinton Foundation.

It wasn’t clear isn’t clear how much he planned to focus on other controversies, such as President Clinton’s impeachment proceedings and fundraising practices.

“After painful reflection, I decided that I couldn’t make a film of which I would be proud. And so I’m cancelling,” Ferguson wrote. He concluded that Hillary Clinton has many virtues, but “this is not her finest hour.”

CNN said it isn’t planning on going forward with another director.

“Charles Ferguson has informed us that he is not moving forward with his documentary about Hillary Clinton. Charles is an Academy Award winning director who CNN Films was excited to be working with, but we understand and respect his decision.”