Given how many years his latest project – true-life White House tale **The Butler **– covers, it’s perhaps not surprising that Precious director Lee Daniels has recruited a massive cast to play the many parts in the film. He’s just rounded up one more, as Liev Schreiber is playing President Lyndon B Johnson.
The focus of the movie is, not surprisingly, a butler (Forest Whitaker) who worked in the world’s most famous address for decades, supporting eight Presidents and their families.
Schreiber is taking on the role of Johnson – president between 1963 and 1969 – instead of Liam Neeson, who had been strongly tipped for it. He’s joining a cast that includes Oprah Winfrey (as Whitaker’s wife), David Oyelowo (as his son), John Cusack (Richard Nixon), Alan Rickman (Ronald Reagan), Jane Fonda (Nancy Reagan), James Marsden (JFK), Minka Kelly (Jackie Kennedy), Robin Williams (Dwight D Eisenhower) Melissa Leo (Mamie Eisenhower), Alex Pettyfer (Thomas Westfall), Vanessa Redgrave (Annabeth Westfall) Cuba Gooding Jr, Elijah Kelly, Jesse Williams, Mariah Carey and more.
With a script by Danny Strong (no stranger to behind-the-scenes political tales after writing Recount and Game Change for HBO), The Butler is filming right now in New Orleans.