Columbus Discovers ‘Bobby’, Decides to Claim it as His Own

What’s with these middle of the road filmmakers and their fascination with Robert F. Kennedy? First that auteur of the cinema Emilio Estevez examined (sort of) the American icon’s assassination in the truly terrible Bobby, now Chris Columbus is going to try his hand at exploring the appeal of JFK’s little brother in an adaptation of Thurston Clarke’s The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America.

The book chronicles the 82 days of RFK’s ill-fated 1968 presidential campaign that ended in his assassination in L.A. following his victory over Eugene McCarthy in the California primary. Focusing on the younger Kennedy’s idealistic campaign of change and how it inspired a nation, Clarke presents him as a tragic martyr whose fearlessness was both his greatest strength and his greatest mistake.

The project is being developed by Columbus’ own 1492 Productions and is the first for the company since signing a first-look deal with Reliance Big Entertainment, the same India-based outfit that looks to be forming a deal with Steven Spielberg to bankroll Dreamworks 2.0 in the very near future. The company will co-finance projects developed in-house with studios who will distribute. Columbus has long been in bed with Warner Bros. so you can expect they will be the first to latch on to the project if their interested.

One has to wonder how the comedically inclined director will handle such a decidedly unfunny subject. The man has been turning out big-budget schlock (and Harry Potter) for his entire career – can he pull off drama? Bobby was approximately five kinds of crap so he’s certainly got room to improve, but I just don’t think he’s much of a filmmaker. You don’t think visionary when you think of Christopher Columbus… you think Home Alone. It doesn’t help that he’s currently finishing up post on a high school comedy starring Hayden Panettiere called I Love You, Beth Cooper that sounds truly horrible. It’s unfortunate because the period in American history is a fascinating one and could make for a great film, especially in this election year. Having said that, I don’t see much commercial viability or public interest in this story beyond the baby boomers, regardless of how interesting a story it is. Politcal biopics just don’t play.

Bobby 2: Assassination Boogaloo might not even see a release until 2010, who knows where we will be politically at that point. Sirhan Sirhan is still waiting for his royalty checks.