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Jeff Daniels eyed for new Sorkin television drama

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In a high-profile plot twist, Aaron Sorkin's TV pilot is close to nabbing actor Jeff Daniels as its star.
/ Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In a high-profile plot twist, Aaron Sorkin's TV pilot is close to nabbing actor Jeff Daniels as its star.

The hotly anticipated drama pilot, tentatively titled "More As the Story Develops," is set behind the scenes of a nightly cable news show.

Similarly, Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" was a behind-the-scenes look at a "Saturday Night Live"-type sketch comedy show, and "Sports Night" was a similar take on a "SportsCenter"-like sports news program.

Sorkin spent time with high profile cable newsmen, including Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, among others, to better understand the world he planned to recreate.

Daniels, 56, is currently negotiating for the lead role, which was originally written for as a character in their 40s.

If the project goes to series, it will mark the actor's first foray into regular series television. Previous TV credits include several telefilms, including 2008's "Sweet Nothing in My Ear" for Hallmark Channel.

Daniels is better known to stage and film audiences for a prolific career that includes "Dumb & Dumber," "The Squid and the Whale" and "State of Play," among others.

For Sorkin, who won an Oscar last month for his screenplay for "The Social Network," the project will be his first in cable. His earlier series, "Sports Night," "The West Wing" and "Studio 60" aired on broadcast networks ABC or NBC.

Scott Rudin, who worked with Sorkin on "Social Network" and will also serve as an executive producer on the HBO project, dabbled in series television only once in the mid-1990s, when ABC adapted "Clueless," which he had produced for the big screen.