Hollywood could be calling for Supreme Court thriller

The Supreme Court is in for a literary shake-up, thanks to a veteran of the Hollywood film industry.

Aaron Cooley, who works for mega director and producer Joel Schumacher, (the man behind two of the “Batman” films, “The Lost Boys” and “Phone Booth,” among others) is releasing his new book, Four Seats, a thriller about what would happen if there was a terrorist attack on the Supreme Court.

{mosads}“The book is basically two parallel story lines going on at once. There’s kind of the ‘24’ storyline, which is the Supreme Court policeman who’s framed for the bombing and is on the one-man hunt to discover who’s behind it,” Cooley says. There’s also what Cooley calls the “House of Cards”-style storyline, following the process of trying to fill four empty seats on the court.

The book, Schumacher’s head of development says, stems from his love of spy action thrillers and a lifelong “obsession” with the Supreme Court. Cooley says he’s always been “really fascinated with the rules of the court, and how it works, and the systems of filling vacancies, and the lifetime appointments.”

In an attempt to make parts of the story as realistic as possible, Cooley, 39, tapped his congressional staffer buddies: “The first confirmation in my book becomes the first time ever that a nominee is filibustered. I had to ask friends who worked in the Senate how that would really work in this case.”

Cooley also enjoyed a D.C.-style reception for his tome, sitting down for dinner to celebrate Four Seats Tuesday with some high-profile tablemates, including: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson; Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.); lobbyist Jack Quinn and his wife, Veluxe founder Susanna Quinn; QGA Public Affairs Vice President John Easton; CNN’s Jim Sciutto and Brianna Keilar and CBS’ Nancy Cordes.

The Oregon native says he originally envisioned his book, which is available on Amazon and in paperback later this year, as a TV series. But, in what’s likely no surprise to Cooley, Hollywood is now calling.

Since releasing a blockbuster movie-style trailer on YouTube earlier this month, Cooley says with a wide grin, “We’ve already been contacted by three different companies about the movie rights, including a company that was nominated for Best Picture last year.”

But Cooley knows how the movie business works: “Whether it was developed for television or film, it’s like winning the lottery. I’d be psyched for either.”