CNN Films Acquires Matt Tyrnauer’s “Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid”
NEW YORK, NY – (August 30, 2024) – CNN Films announced today that they have acquired Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid, ahead of its world-premiere at the 51st annual Telluride Film Festival. From acclaimed filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer, the film chronicles eighteen tumultuous months inside the 2024 election from the distinctive vantage point of one of the most influential, charismatic, and combative voices in the Democratic Party: James Carville. Produced by Altimeter Films, the film is set to release in theaters in the fall and will premiere Saturday, October 5 at 7pm ET on CNN.
“James Carville redefined the art of political consulting and has retained household name status since teaching the Democrats how to win again in the 1990’s,” says Tyrnauer. “While shooting this cinema verité film, he also emerged as a powerful change agent in the 2024 election, wielding his unique influence to upend the party’s nomination process. We are thrilled that CNN Films is as excited as we are to share the story of this American original with audiences – we can’t think of a better partner.”
“Matt artfully crafts the rich story behind James Carville’s humble beginnings in Louisiana to finding success after forty, revealing how he became one of the most significant forces in modern politics,” said Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent, CNN Originals and creative development for CNN Worldwide. “But the surprising heart of the film is James’ marriage to Republican strategist Mary Matalin. CNN Films is proud to bring audiences this unlikely love story which offers a glimmer of hope in our highly polarized times.”
Political luminaries including Bill Clinton, Al Hunt, Donna Brazile, George Stephanopoulos, Paul Begala,Mandy Grunwald, Reverend Al Sharpton, Mitch Landrieu, and Sidney Blumenthal trace the story of Carville’s rise from the bayou to the Beltway, culminating in his masterminding of Clinton’s stunning presidential upset in 1992. Carville’s biography is intercut with his present-day efforts to shape the Democratic Party landscape as an early evangelist to get President Biden to forgo seeking re-election – a move that put him at odds with the very establishment he helped build.
Interwoven throughout is the 30-year love affair between Carville and famed Republican operative Mary Matalin. Featuring intimate interviews with the two and decades of rich archival footage from their lively appearances across broadcast news, Tyrnauer reveals how their union defies political tribalism, serving as a counterpoint to the gladiatorial nature of modern politics.
Directed by Matt Tyrnauer, Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid is produced by Susan McCue, Ryan Rothmaier, Graham High, Corey Reeser and Matt Tyrnauer.
CNN Films hold television and SVOD rights for the US and Canada. The film will stream on Max this fall.
The deal was negotiated by CNN group senior vice president Stacey Wolf and WME on behalf of CNN Films and the filmmakers. Tyrnauer is represented by WME, Entertainment 360, and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
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About CNN Originals
The CNN Originals group develops, produces and acquires original, long-form unscripted programming for CNN Worldwide. Amy Entelis, executive vice president of Talent, CNN Originals and creative development, oversees the award-winning CNN Originals portfolio that includes the following premium content brands: CNN Original Series, CNN Films, CNN Presents, and the newly formed CNN Studios, an internal production studio which creates long-form programming for CNN’s global platforms. Since 2012, the team has overseen and executive produced more than 45 multi-part documentary series and 60 feature-length documentary films, earning more than 110 awards and 445 nominations for the cable network, including CNN Films’ first Academy Award® for Navalny. Acclaimed titles include the Peabody Award winning and 13-time Emmy® Award-winning Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown; five time Emmy® nominee, Apollo 11, directed by Todd Douglas Miller; Emmy® nominated Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico; the Emmy® Award-nominated “Decades Series”: The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, The 2000s, and The 2010s, executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman; The Last Movie Stars, directed by Ethan Hawke about the lives and careers of actors and humanitarians Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman; Grammy® Award nominee Little Richard: I Am Everything, directed by Lisa Cortés; The Many Lives of Martha Stewart; This is Life with Lisa Ling; Primetime Emmy® and duPont-Columbia Award-winning, RBG, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen; See It Loud: The History of Black Television, executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter; Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight in partnership with the BBC; the Producers Guild Award and three-time Emmy® Award-winning Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy; BAFTA nominee and Directors Guild Award winner, Three Identical Strangers, directed by Tim Wardle; and the five-time Emmy® Award-winning United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell; The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper; and Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?. CNN Originals can be seen on CNN, the CNN Original Hub on Max and discovery+, and for pay TV subscription via CNN.com, CNN apps and cable operator platforms.
About ALTIMETE
Altimeter is an entertainment company with a dedicated focus on exploring the most provocative figures and events of our present and past through documentary and narrative film. Co-founded by award-winning director-writer Matt Tyrnauer and producer Corey Reeser, their full creative production and post-production teams recently produced the Emmy-nominated multi-part series Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, about the man behind the commercial empire and his hidden ties to Jeffrey Epstein; Where’s My Roy Cohn?, about the Svengali behind Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump; Studio 54, about the famed New York City nightclub that became a cultural phenomenon; Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, about the secret history of sex in Hollywood in the pre-Stonewall era; and Citizen Jane, about Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses and the battle for the soul of New York City. Other projects include The Reagans, a four-part documentary series for Showtime that re-examines Reagans’ America and the impact of their politics, policies and beliefs on our society today. Altimeter created the documentary series Home, for Apple. Other upcoming projects include the dramatic adaptation of Tyrnauer’s Vanity Fair article “Once Upon a Time in Beverly Hills,” and the dramatic adaptation of Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood with Fox Searchlight, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. New documentary projects include films on James Carville and Nobu Matsuhisa, both slated to have their world premiere at the 2024 Telluride film festival, and a forthcoming multi-part series on the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried. Altimeter’s full creative production and post-production teams operate out of Los Angeles, California.
About Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world’s most differentiated and complete portfolio of content and brands across television, film and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, Max, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Film Group, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visit www.wbd.com.
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