"M'yeaahh, see? Nitschke was a pussy."
Now that he doesn’t have to worry about protecting Wes Anderson from Gene Hackman by wearing cowboy hats, Bill Murray is a busy dude. Along with showing up alongside Charlie Sheen in that Roman Coppola movie, here he is in USA Today, in costume as Franklin D. Roosevelt from Hyde Park on the Hudson. It’s interesting casting, Bill Murray is so likable he could make Rand Paul love the New Deal.
Once committed, Murray was the picture of professionalism while shooting the story about the historic visit to the United States by England’s King George VI (yes, the same stuttering monarch from The King’s Speech) and Queen Elizabeth in June 1939, three months before the start of World War II. “He rose to the challenge magnificently,” Director Roger Michell (Notting Hill) says of his star.
The script, based on a radio play, concentrates on the historic public event — the first time a reigning British monarch visited the United States — and how Anglo-American relations improved considerably after FDR and wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) played host to the royals at their estate in Hyde Park, N.Y., following a more formal gathering in Washington, D.C.
There is also behind-the-scenes drama, as the long-suspected affair between FDR and distant cousin and family companion Daisy (Laura Linney) is explored.
Michell adds that while Hyde Park on Hudson is not a comedy per se, there is plenty of humor “as two cultures crash into each other.”
No more so than when the Roosevelts treat their guests to an old-fashioned picnic, featuring the then-exotic Yankee treat, hot dogs. “The hot dogs are an integral part of the story,” he explains. “The conundrum is explored of whether the royals should publicly eat a hot dog and possibly be set up for ridicule by consuming a strange and slightly socially embarrassing object.” [USAToday]
Ah yes, the heartwarming tale of how a stuttering king learned to eat dick-shaped foods and a crippled president who banged his cousin just to put the royals at ease. And in the process, brought two nations together. A story as old as time.
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We can only hope Bill crashed somebody’s karaoke party dressed as FDR – and that photos appear.
There better be a scene where somebody walks in on FDR and his cousin, and FDR responds with, “No one will ever believe you.”
There better be a scene where FDR sings “they see me rollin’, they hatin’.”
From the director of Notting Hill? Motherfucker better have cast Hugh Grant as King Stut.
Also, Olivia Williams as Eleanor Roosevelt is an odd choice–she looks a bit too, shall we say, not hideous. Olivia Munn would be a more provocative selection, especially if you were sitting next to Brett Ratner in the theater.
Don’t drive angry, Mr. President. Actually, considering your fucked up legs, don’t drive.
I hope they can lure Colin Firth away from his hectic schedule of making me bored.
Take a good look at that picture and tell me Bill Murray wouldn’t make a fantastic Penguin.
It’s a royal mix-up in this hilarious story of mistaken identities and incestuous hijinks. The Prince and the Pauper II: The King and the Cripple, in theatres everywhere.
You’ve got polio and I p-play po-polo,
Let’s call the whole thing off.
One does not simply walk into FDR!
Meanwhile, Spielberg is busy prepping a heartwarming tale of the wartime experience of FDR’s wheelchair in War Hearse.
I can’t think of something funny or clever. I will, however, say that photo is fantastic.
@Ace Rimmer I would have to agree. If Nolan can turn Tom Hardy into Bane he can do something about the fact that Murray is 6’1″.
It’s interesting casting, Bill Murray is so likable he could make Rand Paul love the New Deal.
Nah, Rand Paul will still insist on calling this movie “Moscow on the Hudson.”
And then he’ll give you a ninety minute speech about how government regulations for seat belts are worse than the Holocaust, before eating a hat made out of human hair.
FDR banged on of his cousins? Teddy Roosevelt banged ALL of his cousins.
So inaccurate, dude. They didn’t get along at all, beginning the modern day rivalry–hatred even–between the Crips and the (blue) Bloods.