Warren Beatty to Direct, Star in a Tale About Politics

For the first time since 1981’s “Reds,” for which he won the best director Oscar, Warren Beatty will produce, write, direct and star in a film, scheduled to go before the cameras in late September.

The as-yet-untitled movie, which Beatty conceived of three years ago, is said to be budgeted at less than the current industry average of $35 million, and will be distributed by 20th Century Fox. The rest of the roles are being cast.

“This is not a big movie,” Beatty said Thursday. “It deals with some problems in a politician’s life during the last weekend before a primary. I didn’t originally want to direct this--it’s too much work. But because I have a lot of misguided preconceptions about how to play politicians, I thought I’d probably be less of a pain to everybody if I went ahead and did it myself.”

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Asked why he hasn’t made more movies--either in front of or behind the camera--Beatty said: “I never found a lot of movies that interested me. But what is happening in politics today is not all that different from what is happening in movies. Marketing has become more dominant than content. Consequently you have to work a little harder to be interested in both of them. But for the past few years, I’ve been enjoying my kids--a daughter and a son and there’s another due in January--and have decided that I want to work more.”

Other than “Reds,” Beatty’s only quadruple-threat outing was 1978’s “Heaven Can Wait,” which, like “Reds,” brought him a host of Oscar nominations--including best picture and best actor. He wrote, produced and starred in “Shampoo” (1975), and produced, directed and starred in 1990’s “Dick Tracy.”

The following year, he produced and starred in “Bugsy.” Most recently, he co-wrote the screenplay for the poorly received “Love Affair” (1994), in which he starred opposite his wife, Annette Bening.