Though he’s busy playing Liberace for Steven Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra, Michael Douglas has clearly decided that he’s not yet finished playing iconic real-life people. He’s now in talks to star as Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik.
Mike Newell – who most recently directed Great Expectations, which will close this year's London Film Festival – is also in talks for the film, looking to call the shots. If he signs, he’ll take over from Ridley Scott, who had considered hoisting the megaphone but now seems content to simply produce.
Reykjavik takes place over a few days in 1986, and finds Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meeting for talks in a spa in the titular city, trying to hammer out a peace treaty in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster.
With Douglas now close to locking in a deal, the producers are casting about to find the perfect Gorbachev.
As mentioned, Douglas is working on the Liberace film alongside Matt Damon. He’ll next report to the set of old-age bachelor party comedy Last Vegas, which finds him working with Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline.