Carey Mulligan emerges as frontrunner to play Hillary Clinton in 'Rodham'

As expected, a number of big names and extremely talented actresses were named as contenders to play a young Hillary Clinton in James Ponsoldt's biopic, Rodham. Scarlett Johansson, Amanda Seyfried, Jessica Chastain, and Reese Witherspoon were rumored for the coveted role, but when Chastain came out and basically said it was all lies, everything was thrown into question. As it turns out, she wasn't pulling our leg according to Variety's Jeff Sneider....

All these names that British tabloids & others have thrown out there have ALWAYS been BS. It's been Carey's role to lose from the start...
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) June 5, 2013

The "Carey" he's referring to is Carey Mulligan, who apparently has been the one producers and Ponsoldt have quietly been targeting since the beginning. She'll be meeting with the director soon, according to THR, and "both sides are eager" to get a deal done, but nothing is set in stone just yet. Mulligan is a terrific Oscar-nominated actress, but she's probably not the most obvious choice to play Clinton. It's still a little surprising that Ponsoldt favorite, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, has never really been in the mix. At least not publicly.

The story will center on Clinton's early career working as part of the committee to impeach Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal. It will also deal with her rocky relationship with Bill Clinton. Expect filming to begin soon as they'll want to have Rodham ready by the 2016 Presidential elections.