Apparently Emilio Estevez won't have the last word on Robert F. Kennedy's cinematic legend. Chris Columbus, of the first two Harry Potter movies and many other family-friendly films, will make a feature film based on Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, one-upping Estevez's Bobby by actually, y'know, being about the candidate. Variety reports that Columbus will co-write an adaptation of Thurston Clarke's book The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America. He'll also direct the finished script.
Robert F. Kennedy has come up in political conversation a lot lately, regardless of whether or not its appropriate, in comparison to Barack Obama. It's fair to argue that Obama is the first candidate to feel truly inspiring ever since Kennedy, who, of course, was assassinated before he could clinch the Democratic nomination. Given Columbus' track record for making utterly inoffensive, bordering on bland entertainment, you can pretty count on him avoiding comparisons to present-day politics, or pretty much anything controversial for that matter. But while Bobby focused on the vague idealism that surrounded Kennedy's campaign, Columbus might get down to the nuts and bolts of what made him such an appealing candidate. It may not be groundbreaking, but given how much interest remains in Kennedy 40 years after his death, it will probably be fascinating nonetheless.
