You're Getting an 'Indecent Proposal' for the 'Post-Obama' Age
According to Mandate Pictures president Nathan Kahane, screenwriter Brian Tucker "writes post-Obama stories that forces audiences to question themselves." And what is a post-Obama story that would force you, the audience, to question yourself, you may wonder? Well, how about Indecent Proposal, but with TRIPLE the affair time and forced, lazy racial implications? ARE YOU QUESTIONING EVERYTHING YET? Well, Kahane thinks you will be, so he's signed Salt's Philip Noyce to direct The Arrangement, a script from Tucker that Kahane claims has a "water cooler quotient [that] has to do with the racial subtext of the movie." That not-so-subtle subtext: a woman of mixed race becomes torn between her husband, WHO IS WHITE, and a wealthy man, WHO IS BLACK ROBERT REDFORD--a wealthy gentleman offering a hefty loan to the couple if the wife will spend three days with him. That Arrangement is two-and-a-half days more than the one night Redford wanted in Indecent Proposal! I think I might be questioning myself in this post-Obama era!
After all, Obama, too, is mixed race. What if a wealthy white man offered the U.S. a loan in exchange for three nights with the President? Would he betray his vows with Michelle to save the U.S. from its debt, and also to see what it's like to be with a white dude? These are the kinds of heavy questions Nathan Kahane figures will make this "a real watercooler movie." And with Noyce at the helm, the Mandate president is also counting on pulling in some real star power to play the antagonist, as he claims, "The villain is a full meal character"--a statement that invites you question yourself as you realize which race you assign the "villain," while also inviting you to punch this guy in the face for uttering the words "a full meal character."
