Carey Mulligan as Hillary Clinton: Actress Rumored for 2016 Biopic

Coming off of the success of the "The Great Gasby" remake, actress Carey Mulligan is reportedly in the driver's seat to play Hillary Rodham Clinton in the biopic of Clinton's life before she became first lady and secretary of state.

Mulligan has emerged from a list of A-list actors fighting for the role that included Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Chastain and Emma Stone, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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The biopic, titled "Rodham," would follow the admired but polarizing Clinton through her early years as an attorney working on a committee involved in President's Richard Nixon's impeachment.

Sources told the Hollywood Reporter that Mulligan and director James Ponsoldt have already planned a meeting to work out the details, but other insiders close to the production said no deal has been struck so others actresses are still in the mix.

Mulligan has emerged as one of the most in-demand young actresses in Hollywood. Her recent credits include "Shame," "Drive," and "Never Let Me Go." She will appear in the Coen brothers' movie "Inside Llewyn Davis."

The script is written by South Korean screenwriter Young Il Kim. He told Politico there were several reasons why he wanted to pick up Clinton's story at that point in her life.

“There’s this incredible irony that she worked on the impeachment process that was used against her husband,” Kim said, referring to Bill Clinton’s impeachment scandal involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. “But it’s also really a journey of a woman who was torn between her personal desires and her professional ambition — both literally pulled her thousands of miles apart, because Bill did not want to leave Arkansas, and she did not want to leave Washington, D.C.”

The film, though, has created a controversy because of its expected 2016 release date, the year of the next presidential election. While Clinton has not officially announced she is running for president, most political insiders are expecting her to announce her candidacy.

Clinton lost to President Barack Obama in the 2008 election. Obama, in turn, named Clinton secretary of state.

It's reminiscent of the controversy surrounding the release of "Zero Dark Thirty" last year. Republicans feared the movie would influence the outcome of the 2012 presidential election in favor of Obama.

The film ended up being released a month after the election.

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