Straight from the New Orleans shoot of The Butler, Showblitz provides us with our first glimpse at Forest Whitaker as Eugene Allen, the White House servant who worked for eight First Families.
Granted, we don’t get to see much of Whitaker, considering it’s only a profile shot and he’s almost completely silhouetted, but it’s still a great photo and it’s exciting to finally get a look at this film.
Director Lee Daniels has put together one hell of an ensemble cast for this one. The presidents alone are amazing: John Cusack as Nixon, Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson, Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan, James Marsden as JFK, and Robin Williams as Dwight Eisenhower. I’d be excited to see every one of those actors portray those presidents in individual films. Getting to see them all together in one movie will just be overwhelmingly awesome.
The rest of the cast includes Melissa Leo (Mamie Eisenhower), Minka Kelly (Jackie Kennedy), Mariah Carey, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Vanessa Redgrave, Alex Pettyfer, Yaya DaCosta, Elijah Kelly and Jesse Williams. Like I said, one hell of a cast.
The Butler will hit theaters sometime in late 2013, and I don’t think it will be any stretch to say quite a few honors may be headed its way come awards season 2014.
What do you think of the first image? Share your thoughts below.