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Dick Cheney movie in the works from "The Big Short" director Adam McKay

The man behind “Anchorman” and Funny or Die is taking on the career of Dick Cheney -- but it won’t be a comedy. 

Adam McKay -- who won an Oscar for co-writing and was also nominated for directing 2015’s “The Big Short” -- will direct a film about the former vice president, with Paramount Pictures producing, according to Deadline

McKay has completed the screenplay for the untitled drama and plans to begin production by early spring, with aims for a late 2017 release date. There are no details about casting or about what parts of Cheney’s life the film will cover. 

The Cheney film will be produced by McKay and his Gary Sanchez production company partners, Will Ferrell and Kevin Messick, along with Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, all of whom also served as producers for “The Big Short.” 

“I’ve always found Cheney fascinating,” McKay told Deadline. “Questions of what drove him, what his beliefs were; but once we started digging I was astounded at how much he had shaped modern America’s place in the world and how shocking the methods were by which he gained his power.”

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