I doubt many people ever thought of Bill Murray being the US president, other that perhaps as some kind of comedy jape, but Vulture reports that Morning Glory director Roger Michell has signed Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt in his upcoming adaptation of the British radio play Hyde Park on the Hudson.
The story, which was being penned by Richard Nelson from his own source material, follows the taboo love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley. The setting is June 1939 in upstate New York, when the British King and Queen come to visit the President at his cottage. It was the first-ever visit to America by a member of the United Kingdom monarchy (I suppose we were all holding a grudge before that over that pesky War Of Independence).
Kevin Loader will produce Hyde Park on the Hudson, which starts shooting in July. Bill Murray will reportedly be in serious-actor mode for the part. Murray has become beloved as much for his acting as for his left-field choices, which seem to have little to do with trying to maintain a career and more about loving the project. However his strange decisions do normally pan out, so let’s hope it’s the same here.