Rod Lurie thinks Sen. John McCain’s pick for vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, mirrors the plot of his 2005 ABC drama “Commander in Chief,” says the Hollywood Reporter. Both fictional and real-life stories have an older Republican candidate choosing a relatively inexperienced younger woman as his vice president. Lurie called McCain’s move “strategic” and told the Reporter, “The idea of this woman [Palin] actually facing down [Vladimir] Putin and negotiating with [Dmitry] Medvedev is idiotic.” In the TV series, the veep played by Geena Davis becomes president when the president dies soon after the election.
—Christopher Perez