Tommy Lee Jones as Dan Rather? Laura Linney as Mary Mapes? Paul Newman as Sumner Redstone? Three brilliant casting ideas that should be sent directly to Casting Society of America members, and producer Mikkel Bondesen, as ideas for the Dan Rather movie. Of course, we’re going to need an actual news anchor covering the saga to appear on a background television, a score of sleuth bloggers punching away at their keyboards, and Tom Selleck as former CBS News president Andrew Heyward.

From the same think thank that might as well have brought you cineplex disaster Meet Dave comes word that Dan Rather’s legacy might hit the big screen. Hollywood producer Mikkel Bondesen (of USA’s Burn Notice) and screenwriter James Vanderbilt (of Zodiac and Spider-Man 4) are working to bring to life the book from Rather’s former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, who defends the current HDNet anchor and slams her CBS bosses for their behavior during Memogate. Supposedly, all of CBS/Viacom’s dealings make for a nice White House conspiracy theory. They also thought that about Vantage Point. So, yeah, no.

In the months ahead, Dan Rather is going to get to throw down with former CBS News president Andrew Heyward, current CBS head Les Moonves, and maybe even CBS grand poobah Sumner Redstone. The first two are scheduled to give depositions in Rather’s wrongful termination suit against CBS, where he’s claiming the network so tarnished his reputation in the aftermath of Memogate that he was unable to get hired at NBC, ABC, or CNN. Rather, of course, has since found work in the nether regions of the cable dial on HDNet, where he receives less exposure than his court filings.

Rising through the ranks of CBS, from reporting for Houston’s affiliate and then the White House in the early 1960s to being named anchor of the CBS Evening News some twenty years later, Dan Rather has always put himself in the center of controversy. Saying he “volunteered” to do so might be an overstatement, but past incidents, like claiming to have seen the JFK’s Zapruder film, though misreporting its details, have pit him at the center of more than one WTF moment.

And then there was Memogate, leading to his ouster in 2005. He’s since resurfaced, anchoring a show for HDNet and suing his former employer. And those are just two of his soapboxes. Elsewhere, he’s become a vociferous critic of the media. And that’s put him squarely in Scott McClellan’s camp.

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The judge who dismissed some of Dan Rather’s claims against CBS also allowed (invited?) him to resubmit those charges. So yesterday, Rather did.

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In moving forward with his $70 million lawsuit against CBS, Dan Rather gets to quiz a fact checker hired to check out his story about President Bush’s Air National Guard service. [UPI]

“I reached out to her right after it was announced that she was taking the job. Nothing ever came of that - I reached out to her and had a conversation with her and that was the last I’ve heard. I do want to make clear that I never have had, nor do I now have, any animosity toward her - I thought I could help her because frankly, I didn’t think she had any idea that she knew what she was stepping into - all the problems with infrastructure that had been severely damaged over the past few years.” — Dan Rather on whether he bothered to bond with his replacement Katie Couric [HuffPo]

A judge has dismissed four of the seven counts in Dan Rather’s $70 million wrongful termination lawsuit against CBS. Gone are charges of fraud; remaining is the contract dispute, where Rather argues he wasn’t used appropriately in his final months as a 60 Minutes correspondent. And this wouldn’t be a Rather lawsuit if it didn’t have counsel battling over what actually happened. Says Rather’s counsel: “Justice Gammerman issued a decision today which leaves in place the entire essence of Mr. Rather’s lawsuit against CBS and Viacom, including both contract and tort claims. Although not every legal theory of the case survives, as a result of the decision, the Court has permitted discovery and a trial of all of the factual issues that form the basis of Mr. Rather’s lawsuit, including his $70 million claim for compensatory and punitive damages. The defendants’ statement that all that is left is a ‘garden variety contract dispute’ is simply inaccurate.”

Since he didn’t need any extra sleep after the 48 Hours anniversary party, a rested Dan Rather took to The View this morning, where Barbara Walters prompted him about his $70 million lawsuit.

Ready to dish, Dan carried on his conspiracy theory about the government’s role in big media, and just how much the public doesn’t know. How many more times will he have to repeat it before we start believing?

At last night’s 20th anniversary party for 48 Hours, CBS chief Leslie Moonves, CBS News president Sean McManus, 48 Hours exec producer Susan Zirinsky, former CBS president Sir Howard Stringer, and former news president Andrew Heyward were all in attendance to toast the show’s two-decade mark. Not in attendance: Dan Rather. Though he was the show’s launch anchor, his little $70 million lawsuit against the network might have kept tensions too high to offer an invite.

CBS would very much like to keep its dealings with Dan Rather a secret, thank you. Yesterday, the network asked the court overseeing Rather’s $70 million suit against it (for allegedly violating his contract in firing him) to keep documents related to the Memogate scandal under wraps, even though CBS originally said it would make them public. Naturally, the move caused Rather, currently appearing on HDNet and wire copy, to go off the deep end, accusing his former employer of working under the table with the government: “It is a fact that corporate overlords working in secret collusion with the powers in Washington are intruding far too often in far too many newsrooms.” Also, black helicopters will be landing here soon to “take you to lunch.”

A New York Supreme Court judge made a preliminary ruling to deny CBS’s motion to dismiss ex-anchor Dan Rather’s $70 million lawsuit against them.

The judge, Ira Gammerman said, “I concluded there was enough in the complaint to continue with discovery (pretrial research).”

Rather’s lawyers want access to internal CBS emails, which could get uncomfortable if their office is anything like ours, where NSFW links and derogatory remarks are sent around constantly.

CBS is pretending to be happy that the judge is still (only a little bit) considering dismissing the case, and released the following statement

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Dan Rather’s 1972 Emmy for his coverage of the shooting of Governor George Wallace on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite sold on eBay for $2,500. Rather maintains that he had nothing to do with the sale.

On one hand, that’s more than the possibly fake Britney Spears tank top and jeans went for.

On the other hand, no one who could win an Emmy for news coverage has the means to buy one on eBay.

Earlier this week, we told you Judith Regan pulled a Dan Rather by suing News Corp. over what she claims is a giant conspiracy orchestrated by high-level Republicans. Today, CBS’ lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Rather’s aforementioned precedent-setting lawsuit, claiming to be “mystified” by Rather’s “bizarre allegations” and arguing that the suit is merely “a regrettable attempt by plaintiff Dan Rather to remain in the public eye, and to settle old scores and perceived slights, based on an array of far-fetched allegations” and is “time-barred because of a one-year statute of limitations.”

No telling yet which way the courts will decide, but we have a sneaking suspicion News Corp’s legal counsel will be, as they say, quick to follow suit. Expect their own motion to dismiss within the next few months.

Senator Clinton and her staff are trying to create an aura of inevitability among both voters and journalists to suggest that she’s the Democratic frontrunner [and] you’d better get on board … beware of the inevitability.

–Dan Rather, at the 2007 American Magazine Conference in Boca Raton, Florida [FishbowlNY]