Danny Huston In Talks To Star As President Nixon
As if the art of acting wasn’t difficult enough, how about taking on a character that would lay claim to being the most regularly portrayed and impersonated in real life and a role that warrants it’s own lengthy section on Wikipedia dedicated to listing all the people who played the exact same part on screen in the past? That’s the challenge fronting Eric Bana who will soon play Elvis Presley in Cary Elwes‘ directorial debut, "Elvis & Nixon."Granted names like Jason Biggs, who played The King in a 2008 film titled "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," probably didn’t set the bar very high, the role of the world’s most iconic musician will no doubt be a great scrutiny particularly for a non-American thespian with little musical experience (as far as we know) — but as you’ll soon see, he likely won’t have sing any tunes anyway. Potentially starring opposite Bana, though, is Danny Huston who is in talks to play President Richard Nixon, a role that has also seen many screen iterations including, most recently, the Oscar-nominated portrayal by Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon."
Scripted by Elwes with Joey Sagal and Hanala Sagal, "Elvis & Nixon" will reportedly center on a Dec. 21, 1970, visit that Presley paid to Nixon at the White House, which was all initiated by The King after he wrote Nixon a six-page letter requesting a visit and suggesting that he be made a "Federal Agent-at-Large" in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Presley brought with him family photos and a Colt 45 pistol as a personal gift to the president. So like we said, we doubt there will be much if any vocals required (also likely due to the fact that licensing the King’s music is expensive as hell).
Michael Benaroya ("Margin Call") and Holly Wiersma ("Bobby") are producing the film with Bana also acting as executive producer through his Pick Up Truck Pictures shingle. No word just yet on when production could get underway but lensing is set to take place in Shrevport, Louisiana as well as in L.A. [THR]
This was already a movie made for cable in 1997 called Elvis Meets Nixon.