Campaign '08, The Movie: Will Smith as Obama? Richard Dreyfuss as McCain?

The who-saw-it-coming pick of Sarah Palin to fill out the Republican presidential ticket was simply the latest twist in a presidential race that long since strained credibility.

As our colleague Michelle Maltais put it to us in an e-mail, "A screenwriter couldn't come up with a more riveting script than Campaign '08. So I hope Aaron Sorkin is making copious notes and optioning this storyline that's playing out before us."

That got Maltais meditating on how she would cast this movie (that seems to come naturally to folks who grow up in and around L.A.).  Here's what she came up with, complete with occasional commentary (don't worry, we didn't recognize all the names either ... but that's what Google is for):

Barack Obama -- Will Smith (he already has the ears).

Michelle Obama -- Kimberly Elise or maybe Jada Pinkett Smith.

John McCain -- Richard Dreyfuss.

Cindy McCain -- Joan Allen.

Joe Biden -- David Strathairn or Tommy Lee Jones with longer hair.

Palin -- Tina Fey, Megan Mullally (can't take credit for that; "Daily Show").

Hillary Clinton -- Emma Thompson (she did so well in "Primary Colors").

Bill Clinton -- Beau Bridges? Hmmm, maybe Jeff would be better...

As always, The Ticket welcomes reader input and alternate suggestions.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Ryan O'Brien]

Will and Jada Smith are shoe-ins. I love Denzel Washington but I think Smith is the right choice.

Amy Poehler, while younger, still looks very much like Cindy McCain. Make her look older. Or Joan Allen, but do look at the pics.

I think Strathairn is amazing (I'm P-oed he didn't nab that Oscar for GN&GL) but I'm not sure either he or Jones would be quite right to play Joe Biden. My top picks would be Craig T Nelson (not a huge fan of his but come on! Great speaker and a resemblance!) or William Peterson.

Tina Fey for sure as Palin. I think she looks the part and could carry a dramatic role (although it will throw people seeing her play Palin seriously, because by the time this gets made, she'll surely have played her comedicly on SNL).

Joan Allen, Meryl Streep, or Glenn Close for Hilary Clinton

Beau Bridges would make a good Bill Clinton I think. He has a good deep voice. Just put a bit of twang into it and he's good to go.

Richard Dreyfuss is about to be seen as Dick Cheney in "W" so him as McCain wouldn't work. I'm thinking Ed Harris or Robert Duvall as McCain (Duvall already turned down the Cheney part though). Actually Jon Voight would make a good McCain now that I'm thinking about it. He hates Obama and loves McCain so a movie focused on Obama wouldn't be high on his "to-do" list, but if he thought that he could do the role of John McCain justice better than a non-supporter, he might do it.

[Colleen Hannan]

I'm all for women & careers, as I did have one, but if I had a very young Downs Syndrome child & a 17y/o daughter in the biggest crisis of her young life, I know where I would want to be !!! It wouldn't be on the campaign trail parading them both as political pawns !!