Based on a 2003 BBC miniseries, the Universal Pictures project revolves around an elected government official and his former campaign manager (Pitt), who is now a journalist for a high-profile national paper. When two seemingly unrelated slayings are linked by a single phone call, the friends find themselves on opposite sides of the investigation.

The action will be moved to Washington. A late 2007 start date is eyed.

Macdonald won an Oscar of his own, as director of the Munich Olympics documentary, "One Day in September."