It's been more than a year since we last heard anything of note about El Presidente, the political buddy comedy about a terrible former President and the Secret Service agent assigned to protect him. At the time Tom Cruise was on board to play the agent, with Robert Downey Jr. eyed for the role of the ex-POTUS. Jay Roach, who was just coming off the HBO hit Game Change, was set to direct and all seemed to be progressing nicely. But now there have been a couple of changes, with one huge name possibly coming on.
Roach is now out and Cruise will reteam with his Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman. For Liman it'll be a return to the action-comedy realm for the first time since Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which did pretty well at the box office if memory serves correctly. While that's significant news, the bigger story is that Jack Nicholson is being sought to play the Prez now, as a deal with Downey must have fallen through. THR says Cruise and Liman have made a "last ditch effort" to win over the veteran actor, going to his home to sell their pitch. He's agreed to read the script, recently revised by Paul Attanasio, but the picky actor has yet to make any sort of commitment. Nicholson has been keeping a low profile and hasn't starred in a film since the awful 2010 rom-com How Do You Know. Certainly not a film Nicholson wants to end a career on.
A more detailed version of the plot describes the film being about a " straight-arrow Secret Service agent who is assigned to protect America's worst former president, an alcoholic and womanizing sleazebag who never won a presidential election but was elevated from VP when the president died. When a threat is made on the ex-president’s life, the duo must go on the run."
It would be pretty awesome to see Cruise and Nicholson together again for the first time since A Few Good Men, especially if this turns out to be Nicholson's swansong.
