https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/mo...on-1235277907/

YES! I was hoping this would happen when the book came out last year.

Holy shit. This is great news. I didn't even know about that book. "Election" is a classic and one of my all-time favorites. This could not have worked without Payne behind the camera.

Holy Shit! That is mind-blowing!
My day has been MADE!!!!

I was unaware of the book. I liked to pretend that Big Little Lies was an unofficial sequel to Election (and that Election was an unofficial sequel to Ferris Bueller's Day Off).

Yeah I had no idea about the book, and I never imagined a sequel to Election.

Unfortunately the book is bloody awful IMHO, and if they do a strict adaptation of
it for the movie I’m not expecting it to be very good either. Basically turning Tracy Flick into Matthew Broderick’s character. Payne is a great filmmaker though so hopefully they’ll take the plot in a different direction, just thought the book sequel didn’t work at all.

That's actually kind of funny since like I said, I like to pretend that Election is the sequel to Ferris Buller.

Election is one of the few Payne movies I actually like. Witherspoon returning is enough to get me to see a sequel.

I'm a fan of most of Tom Perrotta's novels, but I was shocked by how crummy the novel of Election was. It was so far below his standards. The filmmakers really transformed its basics into something special.

It's been a while since I've seen Election, but the idea that Tracy Flick ended up 20 years later working in a high school undoes what I remember being the point of Election's ending.

My understanding is the ending of the film is different from the book (there was a different ending shot that was not used that more closely followed the book). But even still, she was working for a Congressman as an intern or something so it's not unrealistic that she would end up as a school administrator as I don't think a lot of young people end up staying in politics. I have the book on my to-read list so I'll see if it mentions her being in politics or not.

Anyway I just re-watched Election yesterday and wondered if Payne might do a sequel so this is interesting timing. I actually met Payne once (we both live in Omaha). My wife and I were waiting in line for a concert when I heard him talking and I recognized his voice from DVD commentaries and so on. I wasn't going to say anything but then he literally bumped into my wife going in so then she said something to him about me being a big fan. He couldn't have been more gracious and said he was grateful we said something.

Here's the unused ending:

I thought the point of the story was that Broderick had this mediocre life as a high school teacher, and he decided to stand in the way of super-achiever Tracy Flick, and it cost him everything, and she ended up succeeding. And then he would see that she continued to succeed after high school because she was both hard-charging Type A personality, a practiced manipulator, and a seductress.

Sad enough that Broderick got trampled over by a teenage girl, but at least he got run over by someone on their way to the top. If she just ended up like him, then holy shit is that pathetic.

First of all : How successful could Tracy Flick possibly be in a movie titled "Tracy Flick Can't Win"?

Secondly, I went to a really prestigious private school in Hawaii. Same school Barack Obama went to, seven years earlier. Payne even mentions it in The Descendants. There was one boy in our class who was so Type A. Nice guy, but had to be the best at everything, always. Straight As, Letterman in Track and Cross Country. Won the "Boy of the Year" award. Went to an Ivy League school.
Know what he does now? He's President of the school.

Is this the sequel to Parker Lewis Can't Lose?

My interpretation was more that none of these people ae succeeding and they were all leading sad, unfulfilling lives essentially, but that Tracy's ultimate fate was still undecided. But I certainly take your point. I just can't see Tracy really ending up happy when you look at her crazy mom, absentee father, and how that was manifesting in her life. There are a few scenes where she laments that all of her outward "success" has not allowed her to connect better with her classmates, who mostly ignore her rather than sign her yearbook. And even with that high school is probably still where she felt most successful so back she goes, although she is at least ahead of Mr. M on the "success ladder" since she is in administration.

And let's face it, if nothing else Mr. M is pathetic, so it would fit for him to get trampled on by someone only a little less pathetic! He allows his friend to commit statutory rape on a student at the school he was "teacher of the year" for without turning him in (and notice how his fake reaction to winning mirrors Tracy), he fantasizes about doing the same to Tracy, then tries to sabotage the girl rather than counsel her and blames her for being taken advantage of, cheats in a freaking high school election while failing to cover his tracks, cheats on his wife with her friend, sets up that horrible rendezvous in the hotel room (champagne on ice in the sink), and it just goes on and on.

This is great news. Payne needs a return to form.

I hope Payne finds room for a Matthew Broderick cameo in this.

Funny. I just saw Criterion’s Blu recently. I did wonder where’d they’d be now. Could be interesting.

Oh you went to the second best school in Hawaii...

What kind of shocked me is how much a teacher at one of these prestigious schools makes. I'm sure an administrator/president makes a lot more but it's certainly not something someone highly educated does just for the money.

Just want to go to bat for Perrotta here. I think the original ELECTION novel is a satirical masterpiece with fantastic use of perspective and humor. (Although, it's true that Payne elevated it even higher.) TRACY FLICK CAN'T WIN is the real letdown, telling a meandering, disconnected story with nowhere near the punch of ELECTION, and a jarring deus ex machina ending. (Hoping Payne can REALLY work some magic on that one.)