HBO is teaming with Barry Levinson and Robert De Niro on a small screen version of Wag the Dog. The premium cable channel and Oscar winner Levinson are developing the 1997 political satire, which Levinson produced and directed and De Niro starred, as a half-hour comedy series. It hails from Warner Bros. TV, whose sibling New Line Cinema produced the original feature.
HBO describes the series as “an ode to the classic film, but moving the weapons of mass distraction beyond politics and into business, entertainment, and yes, non-profits. In the 21st Century with the tools of social media at their hands, nothing is off limits to a small group of operators when it comes to manufacturing reality. Fake news is so yesterday.”
The film Wag the Dog follows a Washington, D.C. spin doctor (De Niro) who, just days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer (Hoffman) to construct a fake war with Albania. The film earned Oscar noms for Hoffman and screenwriter David Mamet. The movie grossed $64.3 million worldwide.
