The Ides of March is a 2011 American political thriller film directed by George Clooney from a screenplay written by Clooney, along with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon. The film is an adaptationof Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North. It stars Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, and Evan Rachel Wood.

Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is the Deputy Campaign Manager for Mike Morris (George Clooney), Governor of Pennsylvania and a Democratic presidential candidate, competing against Arkansas Senator Ted Pullman (Michael Mantell). The candidates are campaigning in Ohio. A win for Morris would all but guarantee him the nomination; a win for Pullman would give him vital momentum. Both campaigns are also attempting to enlist the endorsement of North Carolina Democratic Senator Franklin Thompson (Jeffrey Wright), who controls 356 convention delegates, enough to clinch the nomination for either candidate.

After a debate, Meyers is asked by Pullman's Campaign Manager Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) to attend a secret meeting. Meyers calls his boss, Senior Campaign Manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who doesn't answer. Meyers leaves a message that something important has come up. Meyers meets with Duffy who offers him a position in Senator Pullman's campaign. Meyers refuses, and asserts that he believes in Morris. Duffy tells Meyers that his optimism won't last, and that Morris will eventually be cynical and corrupt like the other candidates. Zara calls Meyers back and asks what was important but Meyers says it was nothing to worry about.

Meyers starts a sexual relationship with Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood), an intern for Morris' campaign and daughter of Jack Stearns (Gregory Itzin), the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Late one night when Molly is in his room sleeping, Meyers discovers that Morris is trying to call her. She and Morris had a brief sexual liaison at a campaign stop in Iowa several weeks previously, and Molly is now pregnant with Morris' baby. Meyers helps her with money for an abortion but warns her not to tell anybody. Meyers also fires Molly from the campaign, telling her she "fucked up." He drives her to the clinic, promising to pick her up afterwards, but fails to do so. She repeatedly phones him, telling him the clinic is closing, but then is forced to find her own transportation back to her hotel.

Meyers admits to Zara that he met with Duffy, who told Meyers that Pullman will offer Senator Thompson the position of Secretary of State, guaranteeing his victory by bringing hundreds of delegates with him. Ida (Marisa Tomei), a reporter for the New York Times, reveals that an anonymous source leaked his encounter with Duffy to her and that she will publish unless Meyers gives her all of the information about his meeting with Thompson. Meyers comes to Zara for help. Zara reveals that he leaked the meeting to Ida and fires Meyers from the campaign for showing a "lack of loyalty" in meeting with Duffy.

Meyers offers his services to Duffy but Duffy now insists that he can't and won't hire Meyers. In a Machiavellian scheme, Duffy admits he only met with Meyers in order to influence his opponent's operation. He suspected that Meyers would tell Zara about the meeting which would lead Zara (in his paranoia) to remove Meyers from Morris' campaign. Should this happen, Duffy correctly surmised, the Morris campaign would be weakened and, as a result, Pullman's would be strengthened. Before dismissing Meyers, Duffy encourages the younger man to quit the business, predicting that should he continue in the business, he will end up manipulative and cynical like every other political operative--indeed, like Duffy himself. Meanwhile, Molly learns that Meyers has been fired and, fearing that her secret will now be exposed, she overdoses on pills and alcohol and dies. Meyers feels guilty about this, as he did intend to expose Morris' affair (and likely implicate Molly) in exchange for a job on Senator Pullman's campaign.