Rob Reiner has been trying to get a movie made about Lyndon B. Johnson for years now, and production on LBJ finally kicked off earlier this week, with Woody Harrelson playing the 36th President of the United States. EW has a first look at Harrelson as Johnson, and I think you guys are going to be very impressed with the actor's transformation for the role. The upcoming biopic also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lady Bird Johnson, Bill Pullman as Senator Ralph Yarborough, Jeffrey Donovan as JFK, Kim Allen as Jacqueline Kennedy and Richard Jenkins as Senator Richard Russell.
Check it out:
Official Synopsis:
On November 22, 1963, one president's life was taken and a new leader emerged — Lyndon Johnson. Rob Reiner's film LBJ tells the story of a politician who was at risk of fading into irrelevancy but, upon Kennedy's death, seized his moment to rescue a nation and claim his place as one of America's most important presidents. The film offers an intimate look at Johnson's masterful political maneuvering and handling of the presidential powers during one of the most difficult weeks in this country's history.
Back in June, Rob Reiner explained why he wanted to make LBJ:
During the sixties, I was a hippy and Lyndon Johnson was my president. At the time LBJ was the target of most of my generation’s anti-Vietnam-War anger. But as time has passed and my understanding of political realities has grown; I’ve come to see LBJ in a very different light. He was a complex man; a combination of brilliant political instinct, raw strength, ambition, and deep insecurities. The strength and power of persuasion that he showed to his colleagues existed alongside of a soft, almost childlike quality that perhaps only Lady Bird got to see. His life’s path was nothing short of Shakespearean. From the poor hill country of West Texas to the corridors of power in Washington, he used his brilliant political acumen to pass the most groundbreaking civil rights legislation of the twentieth century. And had it not been for the Vietnam War, I believe he would have gone down as one of America’s greatest presidents.
LBJ currently doesn't have a release date, however it is expected to hit theaters sometime in 2016.