With "The Newsroom" currently rolling out its short final season, Aaron Sorkin is reportedly turning away from TV, where he made his name with "The West Wing," in order to focus on movies. The "Social Network" Oscar-winner has a number of projects in the works, including Danny Boyle‘s Michael Fassbender-starring Steve Jobs biopic, "The Politician," about John Edwards, the long-gestating "The Trial Of The Chicago 7," and an adaptation of "Moneyball" author Michael Lewis‘ Wall Street book "Flash Boys," but the walk-and-talk fan has just lined up another potential writing project.
According to Deadline, Sorkin is reteaming with his Steve Jobs producer Mark Gordon on an adaptation of Molly Bloom‘s memoir "Molly’s Game," which details how the author, a law student, ended up running an exclusive high-stakes Hollywood poker game, with players including Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire. It certainly seems like it’ll be in the writer’s wheelhouse, and it’ll be nice to see him tackle something with a female lead, though this is Aaron Sorkin we’re talking about, so expect a scene where a troubled-but-brilliant man sits Molly down and mansplains the rules of poker.
In previous-Sorkin-project news, Mark Zuckerberg finally spoke publicly last week about "The Social Network," saying that he found the movie "hurtful." Sorkin was asked about his subject’s statements on Today [via The AV Club] this week, and said "I get it completely. I know that I wouldn’t want a movie made about the things I did when I was 19 years old. I didn’t set out to hurt his feelings." Reports that Zuckerberg is planning to finance a movie about a 19-year-old Sorkin are, so far, entirely fictional. In the meantime, "The Newsroom" airs its second episode of season three on Sunday night on HBO.
i am a fan of his film work just as much as his television work. however, his voice is far more prominent in the tv work – less hands in the editing process, i guess? charlie wilson\’s war is an underrated film. phillip seymour hoffman shines in his role, as does tom hanks.
While I appreciate all of Sorkin\’s work, my favorite stuff is always his TV work so this news is a bit disappointing. I may be in the minority but I feel that all four of his shows (yes, absolutely including Studio 60) are among the best television out there. The only one of his films that has approached the same level for me is The American President. I very much hope that he\’s not finished with TV for good.