The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp buddy film being shopped around

- By Helena Andrews-Dyer

Move over Thelma and Louise, Linda and Monica are the new besties (OK, frenemies) to watch on the big screen. At least according to this year’s Black List, the annual catalogue of La La Land’s most liked but still unproduced screenplay­s.

Topping the 2016 list is the script “Linda and Monica,” a celluloid adaptation of the “absolutely crazy true story of the relationsh­ip between Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp, the woman who nearly destroyed the Clinton presidency — and herself in the process.” The screenplay, written by Flint Wainess, is being shopped around Hollywood.

A quick refresher course on the ’90s Clinton scandal: Monica Lewinsky was the 22-year-old White House intern who did in fact have “sexual relations” with President Bill Clinton. Tripp was the 46-year-old former White House aide and “friend of ” Lewinsky’s who secretly recorded gab sessions the pair had about the Clinton affair, and then blew the lid off the whole thing. (See also: the blue dress).

Recently Tripp, who has been out of the spotlight since her 15 minutes of infamy, said in an interview that she was acting in Lewinsky’s best interests at the time.

“I say today, and I will continue to say, that I believe Monica Lewinsky is alive today because of choices I made and action I took,” said Tripp, who admitted that such a claim might sound melodramat­ic. “I can only say that from my perspectiv­e, I believe that she and I at the time were in danger, because nothing stands in the way of these people achieving their political ends.”

Sounds like just the kind of high-stakes political drama with a splash of sexy details to guarantee a box office draw — or at least a bidding war.

For her part, Lewinsky is probably none too thrilled about the renewed attention to her “mistake at 22.” For nearly two decades, the former intern, who said she was unable to find steady work because of her scandal-scarred résumé, maintained a pretty low profile until reimaginin­g herself as an anti-bullying advocate in 2014. In a silence-breaking essay for Vanity Fair, Lewinsky wrote, “It’s time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress.”

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