Primary Colors is a 1998
comedy-drama film based on the novel
Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics, a
roman à clef about
Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in 1992, which was originally published anonymously, but in 1996 was revealed to have been written by journalist
Joe Klein, who had been covering Clinton's campaign for
Newsweek. The film was directed by
Mike Nichols and starred
John Travolta,
Emma Thompson,
Billy Bob Thornton,
Kathy Bates,
Maura Tierney,
Larry Hagman, and
Adrian Lester.