Clarkson is in negotiations to replace Meryl Streep, who recently dropped out of the project, in the role of Sadie, the aide to Willy Stark, the populist Southern politician, to be played by Sean Penn. Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Mark Ruffalo also star in the film, which Steven Zaillian is set to direct from his own adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's novel, which is based on the life of the late Louisiana Gov. Huey Long. Former Columbia executive Ken Lemberger, political consultant James Carville and Todd Phillips are executive producing.

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