Elvis & Nixon Sets Kevin Spacey & Michael Shannon In Tale Of Historic White House Hangout AFM
by Jen Yamato
EXCLUSIVE: Historical drama Elvis & Nixon has set two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey to play President Richard Nixon opposite Oscar nominee Michael Shannon as rock n roller Elvis Presley as the reconfigured project hits AFM this week. Written by actor Cary Elwes with Hanala and Joey Sagal, Elvis & Nixon centers on the historic 1970 meeting between Presley and the President that famously yielded one of the more curious White House photo ops in pop culture history.
Liza Johnson (Hateship Loveship, Return) is directing Elvis & Nixon, which The Butlers Cassian Elwes is producing with Holly Wiersma. Byron Wetzel is executive producing alongside Tim Smith and Paul Brett for Prescience, which is backing the project. Blooms Alex Walton and Ken Kao are taking Elvis & Nixon to foreign buyers at AFM.
More about that meeting: On the morning of December 21, 1970, Presley showed up on the White House lawn asking to speak with the President at the height of his rock and roll stardom. President Nixon received him in the Oval Office, where they discussed the patriotic Presleys views on drug use and hippies (he didnt care for either, though he would develop an addiction to barbiturates) and The King asked to be sworn in as an undercover federal agent, leaving behind a gifted Colt .45 for the President. Less than four years after their powwow Nixon resigned from office over the Watergate scandal; three years later, Presley was dead at the age of 42.
Elvis & Nixon unfolds over the course of a week. Eric Bana and Danny Huston were once attached to the roles but its a new package thats also seen some script revisions that Bloom is introducing this week in Santa Monica. Filming is slated for an early 2015 start. Its almost hard to fathom this story which evolved in the Oval Office between these two extraordinary men, said Walton. Its almost too good to be true.
Shannon, seen recently as General Zod in WBs Man Of Steel and the Toronto hot title 99 Homes, just finished his run on HBOs Boardwalk Empire, which came to an end after five seasons last month. Hes repped by CAA, Wetzel Entertainment and Morris, Yorn, Levine, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner & Gellman.
Spacey is also enjoying small screen acclaim on his Netflix series House Of Cards, which returns for its third season next year. Hell reprise his role in WBs comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2, in theaters November 26. Hes repped by CAA and Joanne Horowitz Management.
Bloom is in production on Shane Black thriller The Nice Guys starring Russell Crowe and in post on Gus Van Sants The Sea Of Trees starring Matthew McConaughey. Theyre at AFM with Michael Apteds Unlocked with Noomi Rapace, Renny Harlins Jackie Chan starrer Skiptrace, and the John Moore-helmed The Hunters as well as the Gillian Flynn adaptation Dark Places starring Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson actioner A Walk Among The Tombstones, The Woman In Black: Angel of Death, soccer biopic Pele, Jane Got A Gun starring Natalie Portman, and Out of the Dark starring Julia Stiles and Scott Speedman.
