'Game Change': A film on Palin's campaign

In a politically polarized country, the people behind HBO's March 10 movie on Sarah Palin's vice presidential campaign are being careful not to take sides.

"There is no agenda here," Danny Strong, writer of the film "Game Change," said at a news conference last week at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif. Filmmakers said they sought historical accuracy.

The movie is based on John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's book about the 2008 presidential campaign, but focuses specifically on Palin.

Director Jay Roach said he wrote to the former Alaska governor seeking an interview, "but I got a very quick email back from her attorney saying, 'I checked, she declined.' " Roach and Strong were the team behind HBO's "Recount" about the disputed 2000 presidential election.

"I don't think this movie is going to change people's minds one way or another," Strong said. "People are very polarized. It's not designed to change people's minds."

Star Julianne Moore looks strikingly like Palin in her depiction. (Ed Harris plays John McCain.) Asked what she thought of Palin after getting so close to the story, Moore said she had "profound respect" for the historical nature of the candidacy. "There was a tremendous amount of pressure," she said. "That was what I was trying to capture, the pressure that she was under."