With Roland Emmerich and his White House Down getting the casting jump on Antoine Fuqua's rival Presidential thriller, Olympus Has Fallen, the last few days has seen the latter furiously playing catch up. With Gerard Butler(*yawn*) already on board, Aaron Eckhart joined just a couple of days ago. And now they've added another piece with Deadline noting that Angela Bassett(Waiting to Exhale) is along for the ride.
The story's a pretty simple one, with Butler playing an ex-Secret Service agent who comes to the rescue when terrorists invade the White House. Eckhart is set to play the President, with Bassett as Secret Service director Lynne Jacobs. I'm guessing she'll be the tough as nails sort, because that's what she does. Few have quite the commanding authority on screen that Bassett does, so this seems like good fit, and she has a little bit of experience in a similar role. She played the hard-nosed Amanda Waller in Green Lantern, and I'm assuming when the Suicide Squad movie happens she'll play the role there again, as Waller runs that team of reformed villains. But I digress. Bassett was most recently seen wasting away in the terrible action comedy, This Means War.
Production on Olympus Has Fallen should begin soon as the film has been fast tracked.
