If your jaw is still on the floor following the news that Julianne Moore will play Sarah Palin in Game Change, do me a favor: Pick that sucker up and help Movieline cast the rest of this guaranteed must-watch HBO telefilm! Click ahead for some ML-approved suggestions, and then cast away in the comments section.
Potentially the toughest role to cast, if only because the president is so obviously iconic -- though, to be fair, you could have said the same thing about Sarah Palin, and producers Jay Roach and Danny Strong didn't waste much time in selecting Moore as her screen stand-in. The pick here seems to be Anthony Mackie, if only because this is one role Orlando Bloom can't get. Other options: Jay Pharoah (why not?), Michael Ealy and Will Smith. But, come on; Big Wilie Style isn't making a TV movie.
It's the role Kevin Tighe was born to play! Not only does John Locke's bad dad look like John McCain, his star wattage is significantly lower than Julianne Moore, something which plays right into the hands of the Palin/McCain relationship. Richard Dreyfuss could be a good alternate, but he gets disqualified for having already played Dick Cheney in W.
Kudos to Jason Sudeikis for a pretty spot-on impersonation of the vice president, but if anyone should play Joe Biden, it's the silver fox himself, John Slattery. Yes, he's infinitely more charming and composed than Biden, but he's also John Slattery. (Figure that Biden's signature hair plugs can be given to Slattery in make-up.)
At this point, isn't Hope Davis contractually obligated to star as Hillary Clinton in any and all HBO movies about politics? Thought so. An interesting alternate choice for Hillary could be Annette Bening. The Kids Are All Right reunion!
Line up your favorite Southern "gentleman" -- Matthew McConaughey, Josh Lucas, Patrick Wilson, James Wolk (not actually a Southern gentleman, but he played one so well on Lone Star). Any one of them can go sleazy, but only Wilson possesses the skills to also manifest that John Edwards gravitas. Of course, this is assuming that Tom Cruise is saving himself for the Aaron Sorkin film about John Edwards. Since, duh.