Back in March, David Mamet revealed that he’d been asked to write a script about Hunter Biden’s life. The producers of “Sound of Freedom” came to him with the idea.
These guys who did the Sound of Freedom, they came to me and they said, ‘You want to write a a movie for us?’ I said, ‘Yeah sure, what do you got?’ They said they wanted to do a movie about Hunter Biden. I’m not going to call him Hunter Biden and it’s not going to be a travelogue.
It turns out, this project is very legit. Deadline is reporting that Cameron Van Hoy will be directing “The Prince,” which has just entered production. This is a feature drama penned by Pulitzer Prize winner and Oscar nominee Mamet.
The cast is even more intriguing. Scott Haze (Old Henry) will play a character inspired by Hunter. The ensemble is rounded out by Nicolas Cage, J.K. Simmons, Giancarlo Esposito and Andy Garcia. We also have a synopsis, and it promises a wild ride:
“The Prince” chronicles an addict’s tumultuous odyssey through the high-stakes world of power, pleasure, and pain on a transformative journey toward recovery.
Hunter, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, has a past of serially abusing drugs and alcohol. If we go by Mamet’s previous comments about the film, it might also tackle the worldwide influence Hunter had in China, Russia and Ukraine, where he represented his family in business dealings.
Mamet has stressed that the character in his film wouldn’t be called “Hunter Biden”, and that the project wouldn’t be “a travelogue.” He added that the hardest part about doing the biopic was that it could easily become a film about all the places the famous subject went to, perfunctorily cataloging all of their most famous acts instead of developing a coherent theme.
So, the question is, if it’s not interesting, it doesn’t matter if it’s Hunter Biden. And if it is interesting, it doesn’t matter if it’s Hunter Biden. People don’t care, right?
The film announcement comes less than 24 hours after Hunter was found guilty in Delaware of three felony counts related to the purchase of a gun in 2018.
Mamet is known for his wittily acidic dialogue. In fact, a term was invented for his style of writing: “Mamet speak.” Mamet's style of writing is cynical, edgy, street and precisely crafted for effect. So, why has Mamet not had much of a presence in Hollywood these last 15 years? Well, for one, he outed himself as a Republican 10 years ago, and is a staunch Trump supporter. He also recently wrote a wickedly funny takedown of the industry titled “Everywhere an Oink Oink.”
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.