First Look at Bill Murray as Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Movie Bill Murray by Joey Paur

Actor Bill Murray will join the ranks of several other actors who have portrayed president Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the big screen. Some of these actors include Ralph Bellamy, Jason Robards, Jon Voight and Kenneth Branagh

Above you will find our first look at Murray as the President in Roger Michell's (Notting Hill) film Hyde Park on Hudson. I'm a huge fan of Murray and he looks like he fits the part perfectly. The film was written by Richard Nelson and the story "recounts the quasi-incestuous love affair between the president and his distant cousin, Margaret Stuckley, and takes place on the June 1939 weekend that the British King and Queen visited Roosevelt at his upstate New York cottage, in the first-ever visit to America by a member of the United Kingdom monarchy."

Murray is a great actor and this is a great role for him to take on. The director said in a interview that "It is one of those parts like Hamlet. You don't do it unless you get the right actor." He went on to talk about getting Murray on board the film saying, "It was a very complicated dance and made life difficult for me while prepping the film. I wouldn't have done it without him. But after a year of waiting, I received a wonderful text that said, 'Yes, I'll do it."

After Murray committed himself to the project he went on to prepare for the role including FDR's paralysis, which was the result of a late-life bout with polio that was kept hidden from the public. "We put Bill in touch with people who have polio and with a physiotherapist, who made calipers and taught him how to walk with them," the director says. Murray also worked on embodying the FDR spirit. "He captured the voice of the man, the tilt of his chin, that trademark cigarette holder and his way of spreading confidence."

I like historical films like this, so I'm looking forward to checking it out.

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