'Wag the Dog' Is Becoming an HBO Series

As originally seen on Exclaim.ca.

Thanks to the complete fucking disaster that is present-day global politics, there's never been a better time to make political comedy. Though they've already got Veep, HBO are adding another fascinating project to their slate with a proposed adaptation of Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog.

Levinson will return to adapt his 1997 film as a 30-minute television series. The original movie saw a political strategist (played by Robert De Niro) hire a Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman) to create a fictional war in order to distract the public from a presidential scandal.

The Hollywood Reporter has a quote from HBO, who describe their adaptation as "an ode to the classic film, but moving the weapons of mass distraction beyond politics and into business, entertainment and, yes, nonprofits. 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."

Stay tuned for more information on the television version of Wag the Dog as it becomes available.