Halle Berry is set to take the Commander-in-Chief’s seat in a new film adaptation of Bill Clinton’s 2018 novel, The President Is Missing, per film-news.co.uk.
The Oscar winner will portray President Joanna Duncan in the Apple original movie, a gender-swapped reimagining of the book’s protagonist, Jonathan Lincoln Duncan. The project marks a major milestone for Berry’s production company, HalleHolly, which she runs alongside partner Holly Jeter.
The political thriller, co-authored by former US President Bill Clinton and James Patterson, follows a leader forced into a desperate gamble. When a catastrophic terrorist threat looms, President Duncan must evade her own Secret Service and slip away from the White House to save the country from a total collapse.
The path to production has been a long one. The story was originally developed as a television series for Showtime starring David Oyelowo, but the project was scrapped during the pandemic.
Now revived as a feature film at Apple, the script is being penned by Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and former CIA officer David Chasteen.
Berry shared her enthusiasm for the project on Instagram, stating: “New chapter unlocked. Words can’t describe how excited I am for this second act in film and TV!”
