WashPost Hypes Another Young 'Barry' Obama Biopic from Hollywood

March 3rd, 2016 2:14 PM

The “Reliable Source” gossips at The Washington Post were oozing over Obama again on Thursday, hyping a clip from The Hollywood Reporter that producers have picked actors for a new movie about “a young Barack Obama trying to find his way in 1981 New York City,” his Columbia University years.

The film, simply titled Barry, will be directed by Vikram Gandhi, a correspondent for Vice magazine. It will star unknown Devon Terrell as Obama, and Anya Taylor-Joy as a fellow Columbia student.

(In his 2012 biography Barack Obama, Washington Post editor David Maraniss reported that Obama's description of a white girlfriend in his memoir Dreams from My Father was a "compression" of events in his Columbia years "that occurred at separate times with several different girlfriends.")

The Post concluded “even if Barry isn’t a blockbuster, playing the prez is a plum part: A-listers from Will Smith to Drake have angled to portray him.” Obama could be the Fresh Prince of Hyde Park.

The Hollywood Reporter added:

The script was written by Adam Mansbach, the author perhaps best known for the adult children’s book Go the F*** to Sleep. He also tackled race with his novel Angry Black White Boy....

Barry is the second young-Obama tale making its way to the big screen. Southside With You, a film about the early years of Obama's relationship with first lady Michelle Obama, premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival. Miramax and Roadside acquired the project, which stars Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter as Barack and Michelle.

Miramax is run by Tinseltown mogul Harvey Weinstein, who jabbed at Obamacare critics on CNN in 2013: "Obama's not embarrassing. The country's embarrassing."