Franklin Roosevelt was one of the greatest American leaders of the 20th century. Bill Murray, the guy who's portraying him isn't too bad, either. And Olivia Williams, a British thesp who entered into the scene with a leading role in Kevin Costner's The Postman, is the frontrunner to play FDR's wife Eleanor Roosevelt in Roger Michell's Hyde Park on the Hudson.
Richard Nelson reworked his own 2009 radio play which centers on a rather intriguing moment in FDR's life. Set over a long weekend in 1939 when Roosevelt invited the British King and Queen at his upstate New York cottage. The feature will shed some light on both his presidency and the fact that he may have been more intimate with his cousin, Margaret Stuckley than usual.
Bill Murray was confirmed last month as acting the 32nd U.S. president in the upcoming movie. Murray recently visited Roosevelt's hometown of Hyde Park, New York with the Hyde Park's screenwriter, walking to historic sites such as the president's former home and the local museum.
Nelson said local newspaper
It was his choice. He wanted to come and take a look.”
A second cast member Laura Linney has also agreed to join as Roosevelt's distant cousin Daisy. Furthermore, British actors Samuel West and Olivia Colman are filling the shoes of King George and Queen Elizabeth.
In Roman Polanski's thriller The Ghost Writer, Williams has played a similar role as the wife of a disgraced former British prime minister in exile. She was most recently appeared as Rachel in Hanna.
Shooting begins next month in advance of a planned 2012 release.
Franklin D and Eleanor Roosevelt with children
