The story is told mainly from the perspective of cynical, alcoholic reporter Jack Burden (Jude Law) who arrives from the big city to cover Stark's campaign. Stark's principles impress Burden, but the unconvinced reporter regards Stark as an unrealistic hick who won't make it in politics.

But Stark wins the election, and he hires Burden as his press secretary. And before you ponder if this is the end of the honest Willie Stark, the familiar formula that "power corrupts" unfolds, with Stark turning into a political monster and blatant philander. Soon a scandal that Stark had predicted soon makes him front-runner for governor. He appeals directly to Louisiana's poor folk with a blunt campaign pitch. "You are all hicks," he tells a crowd, "and ain't nobody ever helped a hick but a hick himself."

Originally slated for release in 2005, All the King's Men gathers a highly misused cast: Kate Winslet as faded Southern Anne Stanton; James Gandolfini as political fixer Tiny Duffy; New Yorker Mark Ruffalo as Adam, Anne's idealistic doctor brother; Anthony Hopkins as a prominent judge; and Patricia Clarkson as Stark's press secretary.