In all our excitement yesterday over the start of Filmfest DC, we completely failed to mention the other big “local” premiere. State of Play has garnered continued curiosity on this site for over a year and a half now, ever since Brad Pitt popped into the newsroom at The Washington Post to do a little research on the role of intrepid “Washington Globe” reporter Cal McAffrey— a role that eventually went to Russell Crowe after Pitt dropped out. A good portion of the movie was shot in D.C. last spring, and we all thrilled at seeing Crowe hanging out at Ben’s, complete with that authentic journalistic paunch that presumably results from a few too many chili half smokes while out on the beat trying to uncover governmental conspiracy.

In this case, a pair of unrelated deaths leads Crowe into a complex web of deceit and cover ups in the halls of power in a script adapted by Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy (and others) from the excellent BBC miniseries of the same name. Advance reviews are actually looking pretty good, and seem especially complimentary of Ben Affleck in the role of the Congressman with lots to hide. Considering Affleck’s already stated interest in politics, this movie may have just significantly increased the chances of a Senator Affleck coming to Washington in 20 years or so. Everyone get ready to pick out all those errors in D.C. geography — we already know one: Georgetown has been recast as a dark and dangerous part of town.