Midday Roundup: Director cans plans for Hillary Clinton film

Pressured to quit. The director hired by CNN to make a film about Hillary Clinton announced today he has scrapped the project after opposition from both Democrats and Republicans made it impossible to complete. “When I approached people for interviews, I discovered that nobody, and I mean nobody, was interested in helping me make this film,” Charles Ferguson wrote on a blog for the Huffington Post. “Not Democrats, not Republicans—and certainly nobody who works with the Clintons, (who) wants access to the Clintons, or dreams of a position in a Hillary Clinton administration.” Seems like both sides feared the film would help the opponent’s cause. Clinton is widely expected to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. Polls show her as a clear frontrunner. Republican leaders in August sent letters of protest to CNN, threatening to boycott any debates the network had if it pressed forward with the film. They sent a similar protest letter to NBC, which still plans a dramatic miniseries about the former first lady and secretary of state.

Voting rights? Attorney General Eric Holder will announce later today plans to sue North Carolina over its new voting laws. The legislation, passed earlier this year, limits early voting times and requires voters to present state-issued identification. Holder sued Texas over similar laws last month. The legal action comes after this summer’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to strike down a central part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The federal government can no longer force certain states to get prior approval for voting law changes, just because they once had civil rights violations. Instead, the federal government must challenge laws after they are passed.

Crude courtroom battle. BP is back in court today in New Orleans as a judge considers whether the oil giant purposely misled federal officials in 2010 about the amount of crude leaking from its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the second phase of the trial against BP. Earlier today, lawyers for the company said BP made reasonable decisions about what to do after the blowout based on what it knew at the time. The plaintiffs claim the company wasted time trying methods to cap the well it knew wouldn’t work based on the amount of oil gushing from the top. Establishing how much oil spewed from the damaged well will determine what kind of penalties the company has to pay. If government estimates are accurate, penalties could top $18 billion. The company estimates it should only pay about $10.5 billion.

Brand awareness. Apple and Google have bumped Coca-Cola off its top spot as the world’s most valuable brand, according to brand consulting company Interbrand. The company bases ratings on factors such as financial performance and brand loyalty and only ranks companies that have a presence on three continents. Interbrand estimates Apple’s brand is worth $98.3 billion, compared to Google’s $93.2 billion. Coke came it at just $79.2 billion.