Netflix is eyeing the Watergate scandal as the subject of its next high-profile miniseries.
A drama titled Watergate is being developed by George Clooney and Bridge of Spies writer Matt Charman. Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures will produce the eight-episode limited series, with the film star and his partner Grant Heslov serving as executive producers. Charman is writing the script for the project, which also hails from Sonar Entertainment (it signed a first look deal with Smokehouse last year.) Netflix declined to comment.
Watergate, which sources say will focus on the chief figures wrapped up in the scandal, is one of two big limited series recently coming from Smokehouse. Clooney has a Catch-22 adaptation based on Joseph Heller’s book from Paramount Television and Anonymous Content that he's slated to star in and direct. The six-episode mini is being written by Lion's Luke Davis and War Machine's David Michod.
Charman, who nabbed an Oscar nomination for his Bridge of Spies screenplay, is producing the World War II film Liberty Road. He is also working with Bridge of Spies director Steven Spielberg and producer Marc Platt on a feature about legendary newscaster Walter Cronkite for Amblin Partners.
The Watergate scandal took place in June of 1972 when five men were arrested for breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. What followed was an investigation that revealed a coverup by high-ranking White House officials that resulted in the resignation of president Richard Nixon two years later.
Clooney and his Smokehouse Pictures are repped by CAA. Charman is repped by CAA, Michael McCoy, Jeffrey Silver and attorneys Gretchen Rush and Dan Fox.
