Aaron Sorkin to direct John Edwards project

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has acquired the rights to the Andrew Young book about former presidential candidate John Edwards, "The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down."

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A TV and film mainstay, Sorkin will make his feature directorial debut with the project, which he will also write and produce.

Young first volunteered for the Edwards Senate campaign in 1998 and eventually became one of the North Carolina pol's most trusted confidants. During the 2008 presidential primary, Edwards began making unethical demands of Young relating to the candidate's mistress and her child with him.

Young's book was published by Thomas Dunne Books earlier this year.

"This is a first-hand account of an extraordinary story filled with motivations, decisions and consequences that would have lit Shakespeare up," said Sorkin. "There's much more to Andrew's book than what has been reported, and I'm grateful that he's trusting me with it."

The WME-repped Sorkin most recently wrote the screenplay for David Fincher's "The Social Network," which Columbia will release in October, and co-wrote the adaptation of the same studio's "Moneyball," which just began filming. He has also scripted "Charlie Wilson's War," "The American President" and "A Few Good Men."

On the TV side, Sorkin is the creator of the series "Sports Night," "The West Wing" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."