Trevor Noah Developing Remake of ‘The President’s Analyst’ With Former Obama Staffer
“The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah is developing and may star in a remake of “The President’s Analyst,” the 1967 political satire that starred James Coburn as the Oval Office’s resident psychiatrist. Paramount Pictures will back the film.
Noah will have a critical helping hand when it comes to navigating White House life. Pat Cunnane, who was President Barack Obama’s senior writer and deputy director of messaging, wrote the screenplay for the film. The original became a cult classic thanks to its trippy elements that veered on camp (there’s an animated explanation of microelectronics that has to be seen to be believed). It followed a psychoanalyst who is given a top-secret assignment to help an increasingly paranoid and overly stressed U.S. president. It’s unclear what Cunnane has planned and Paramount isn’t releasing a logline other than to say the story will be told “through the lens of the contemporary political landscape.” But there’s more than enough grist for the absurdist mill in Washington these days.
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Noah and Haroon Saleem are producing the film for Day Zero Productions, with Gabby Nowack serving as the company’s executive on the project. Norman Aladjem, Derek Van Pelt and Sanaz Yamin will produce for Mainstay Entertainment.
In addition to sending up the day’s political news as the host of “The Daily Show,” Noah recently appeared in “Coming 2 America” and provided voice work on Marvel’s “Black Panther.” The comedian is developing an untitled animated comedy for Paramount. Noah also wrote “Born a Crime,” an acclaimed memoir that had a stint on the bestseller list.
He is represented by CAA, Mainstay Entertainment, Jill Fritzo PR, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman, LLP.
Cunnane is represented by CAA, Heroes & Villains Entertainment and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
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