With his hard-drinking, louche-living Men-Maddening ways behind him, John Slattery is swapping Roger Sterling for something a little more presidential. He's now on board to play General Dwight D. Eisenhower in Churchill, the biopic that has Brian Cox playing the titular wartime Prime Minister.
We say "presidential", but the film will actually be set before Eisenhower becomes the 34th occupant of the Oval Office, chronicling the tense build up to the D-Day landings, Churchill’s leadership role and his more private side in his relationship with wife Clementine. We’ll meet a man who is tired from the strain of ongoing conflict, and fraught with worry that if the D-Day operation doesn’t work, he’ll be remembered not for his proud legacy as a wartime Prime Minister, but as the man who orchestrated a bloodbath with little result. It’s Clementine who helps keep him focused and brings him back from the brink.
Jonathan Teplitzky is in the director’s chair for this one, working from a script by historian Alex von Tunzelmann. Miranda Richardson will be Clementine, with Suki Waterhouse and Julian Wadham also in the cast. The cameras are scheduled to start rolling next month.
Slattery, who was a part of Spotlight's ace ensemble, will make Churchill his next job.