Halle Berry to Star in Apple Movie of James Patterson's The President Is Missing

Movieweb reports that Halle Berry has signed on to star in an Apple movie adaptation of James Patterson and Bill Clinton's political thriller The President is Missing.

The novel, co-written by former president Bill Clinton and published in 2018, follows a sitting U.S. President who vanishes during an international crisis and was teased as being full of 'details only a President could know.' It was an immediate bestseller. A planned Showtime series with Janet McTeer, Michael Rooker and Ann Dowd—who was set to play President Jillian Stroud—had a pilot ordered and cast in February and March 2020 but was cut from Showtime's slate in October 2020.

According to Deadline, Apple acquired the project last year and the movie adaptation is now moving ahead, with Nicole Perlman and David Chasteen scripting a gender-swapped version in which Berry plays President Joanna Duncan, who must leave the White House against Secret Service advice to confront a terrorist threat. There has been no word on who will take over directorial duties from the TV series' Christopher McQuarrie, and the film will likely be released sometime in 2027.