Broadway Baby! Mike Nichols Scores Gyllenhaal For Politically Charged Debut

As for "Farragut North," Nichols has quietly wrested that one away from Second Stage, the off-Broadway company that was to have presented it later this year.

As The Post reported a couple of months ago, Gyllenhaal took the lead role in a top-secret reading of the play directed by James Lapine. For various reasons, Lapine left the project. But he told me that Gyllenhaal was excellent as an idealistic young press secretary who works for a Howard Dean-like presidential contender.

Written by Beau Willimon (who worked on Dean's 2004 campaign), "Farragut North" is a hot property right now, with George Clooney and Matt Damon having snapped up the film rights.

Look for "Farragut North" to open on Broadway in the midst of the presidential election next fall.

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