'CARNAGE' Star Davis Replaces Moore In Morgan's 'THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP'

The Hollywood Reporter has announced the news that 2009 Tony Award nominee Hope Davis will take over the role of Hillary Clinton for the upcoming film 'The Special Relationship.'

Davis replaces Julianne Moore who has stepped out of the role due to a scheduling conflict with her television project "The Kids Are All Right." Davis is currently starring on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning play GOD OF CARNAGE. The actress will co-star with Dennis Quaid who is set to play former President Bill Clinton in the film.

The film will be the third movie in the Tony Blair trilogy by "Frost/Nixon" playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan. The trilogy was launched in 2003 by Stephen Frears' British TV movie "The Deal" and followed by "The Queen." Morgan had planned to make "Special Relationship" his directorial debut but pulled out from directing duties last month, with Richard Loncraine stepping in to helm the film.

"Deal" tracked the rise of Tony Blair, played by Michael Sheen. Frears and Sheen then reteamed for "The Queen," which also starred Helen Mirren in her Oscar-winning turn. Morgan earned an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay on the picture. 'The Special Relationship' will chronicle the unique and sometimes turbulent political relationship between newly installed British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s.

'The Special Relationship' will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and will again star "Frost/Nixon" star Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. To read the full report in the trade paper click here.

Hope Davis appeared on Broadway in Ivanov and Two Shakespearean Actors. Her off-Broadway credits include Spinning Into Butter, Pterodactyls; The Food Chain; The Iceman Cometh and Speed the Plow. Her extensive film credits include The Daytrippers; Next Stop, Wonderland; Arlington Road; Mumford; About Schmidt; Proof; Synecdoche NY, and American Splendor, for which she received the New York Film Critics Circle Award and a Golden Globe nomination. She can be seen in Season 2 of HBO's "In Treatment."

Peter Morgan also wrote Tom Hooper's upcoming "The Damned United," which also stars Sheen as legendary English soccer coach Brian Clough; Universal-Working Title's remake of the Brit miniseries "State of Play," starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck; and an upcoming adaptation of John le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" for Working Title.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.