Billy Ray is moving on to the next film in his Fall From Grace cycle; first up was Shattered Glass, about a fact-fabricating reporter at The New Republic, and next was Breach, about a high-ranking and well-respected FBI officer who was giving secrets to the Russians. Now he’s tackling How to Rig An Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative, a memoir by Allen Raymond.
Raymond engaged in the GOP’s strongest electoral suit: dirty tricks. He had his people call voters during the Super Bowl claiming to be hyping the other candidate, for instance. But what got him put in prison (and writing a memoir) was a terrific and sort of old school scheme that actually worked. Instead of rigging Diebold machines or disqualifying voters, ie the usual Republican tactics, he simply paid a telemarketing company to flood the local Democratic headquarters with calls on election day. The Dems couldn’t make their get out the vote calls while the Republicans could; in the end GOP shithead and Senatorial candidate John Sununu won by a margin of 20,000 votes, which shows how imprtant a good GOTV campaign can be.
Raymond ended up pleading guilty to conspiracy charges and serving a measley three months in jail. “This is the story of Raymond’s rise to power alongside his friend in the party, Jim Tobin, and how their lives intersect in a way that forces Allen to choose between his ambition and his integrity,” Ray said. “He makes the wrong choice at first, and by the time he makes the right one, his wife and kids are affected and his life is going up in flames.”
Billy Ray will be making How to Rig An Election for Fox Searchlight. Filming begins next year.