www.variety.com  1 October 2007

Morgan prepares 'Queen' sequel - Film looks at U.K.-U.S. relationship

By ADAM DAWTREY  

 Peter Morgan

LONDON — Oscar-nominated screenwriter Peter Morgan has started work on a sequel to "The Queen," which will dig into former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair's relationships with U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The movie will focus on Blair's reaction to the handover of power between Clinton, a natural liberal ally, and Bush, who came from the other end of the political spectrum. 

"Peter sees this as a pivotal moment when the special relationship between Britain and America changed," says producer Andy Harries. 

This project will be the third film in Morgan's "Blair trilogy," which began with the Channel 4 telepic "The Deal" and continued with "The Queen." Michael Sheen is expected to reprise his role as Blair. 

"Peter always hoped to do a trilogy to mark the Blair years that we've all lived through, but it's been difficult to find the right point at which to look at Blair in power," Harries says. 

Morgan initially considered tackling the more obvious drama surrounding the run-up to the Iraq war, when Blair fatally compromised his own premiership by his whole-hearted support for Bush's invasion plans. But in the end Morgan decided that the roots of those events lay in Blair's difficult adjustment to the transition from Clinton to Bush a few years earlier. 

He's researching the project with a plan to start writing by the end of this year. Harries will produce with Christine Langan, the team behind "The Deal" and "The Queen." No financing is currently attached, although with Langan now working at BBC Films, that would be an obvious home for the project. 

Harries already has another Morgan screenplay, "The Damned United," in development with Langan at BBC Films. It's adapted from David Peace's novel about the legendary English soccer coach Brian Clough, with Sheen set to play Clough. 

The project was originally due to be directed by Stephen Frears, who also helmed "The Queen," but he stepped aside over the summer to be replaced by Tom Hooper. Pic is currently casting to shoot next April. 

Morgan recently finished a re-write of "State of Play," and a draft of John LeCarre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," both for Working Title. Working Title and Imagine Entertainment are also co-producing "Frost/Nixon," Ron Howard's movie version of Morgan's stage hit.