Last week in Morning Fizz, we reported this:
You may see Hollywood director Stephen Gyllenhaal—Maggie and Jake’s dad—around town next month. Gyllenhaal will be on location scouting out the scene for a film he’s shooting here about Grant Cogswell’s odd 2001 campaign for Seattle City Council.
Today—we hear from a council source— Gyllenhaal was at City Hall meeting with McIver and McIver staffer Paul Elliott. Apparently, Gyllenhaal is going ahead with the flick and Gyllenhaal is thinking about asking his friend Samuel L. Jackson to play McIver.
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Congrats Grant! I’ll have to facebook him about this right now. In the meantime… that’s the worst casting I’ve ever heard of. How about Cedric the Entertainer? Martin Lawrence? AL ROKER!
More importantly: who’s going to play Grant? It’s a toss-up between Gary Burghoff and Matt Damon. Hmmm… I wonder who’d Grant prefer… and I wonder who’s cheaper.
Cedric’s dead, but he could probably still best capture the campaign trail McIver of 2001.
Dang, I hate when I do that- specifically who died when (Bernie Mac, check; Cedric… ooops). I still say AL ROKER!
Way to go, Josh. Even after using the pull quote that spells Gyllenhaal’s name correctly, you spell it wrong — three times.
Oh my. Fixed.
The movie is based upon Phil Campbell’s wonderful book
Zioncheck for President: A True Story of Idealism and Madness in American Politics.
Here is a bit from the literary blog world:
http://maudnewton.com/blog/?p=5854
Some readers at Publicola may remember that Phil is a former colleague of Erica and Josh.
Stephen Gyllenhaal’s name is easy to mess up, but Paul Elliott’s definitely doesn’t have two t’s.
I mean three t’s.
“Zioncheck for President” rocks my world and I am stoked for the movie adaptation. Stephen G: BRRIINNNGGGG IITTTTTTTT. kthxbye.
Without a doubt, Grant should be played by Damon. But casting Samuel Jackson as McIver is akin to casting Sean Connery as Woody Allen.
Is Jackson Gyllenhaal’s one black friend? Or is he trying to spice things up somehow? Cause this doesn’t quite fit…
As for the book, I liked it, except the end, which I thought was defeatist, and missed how utopian activists have changed history not just by keeping hope alive, but by forcing real concessions from those in power.
Rainn Wilson is playing Grant.