James Ponsoldt to direct a Hillary Clinton biopic

After owning the last two Sundance Film Festivals with Smashed and The Spectacular Now, James Ponsoldt finds himself one of the hottest directors around. He's lined up a slew of major projects, from penning Broadway musical Pippin, directing YA adaptation Pure, and helming an adaptation of Matthew Quick's (Silver Linings Playbook) upcoming novel. But his newest gig is guaranteed to draw a lot of buzz and court no end of controversy.

Ponsoldt will direct Rodham, a biopic on the early political career of Hillary Clinton. The script by Young Il Kim was one of the most highly rated on last year's Black List, and of course the story deals with Hillary's rocky relationship with Bill Clinton....

During the height of the Watergate scandal, rising star Hillary Rodham is the youngest lawyer chosen for the House Judiciary Committee to Impeach Nixon, but she soon finds herself forced to choose between a destined path to the White House and her unresolved feelings for Bill Clinton, her former boyfriend who now teaches law in Arkansas.

A number of actresses are said to be in the running, which isn't much of a surprise since this is potentially a career-defining role. Producers plan to wait until the lead is cast before shopping the film to investors, which is probably the wisest course of action. Considering Ponsoldt's history of success with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, in all likelihood she'll be at the top of his list of candidates.

With Hillary already polling better than every other potential 2016 Presidential candidate (oh please run!), she's going to stay in the spotlight no matter how hard she tries to get away. Expect production on the film to move quickly to capitalize on that. [TheWrap]