The White House had one of its stranger photo opportunities in December of 1970, when Elvis Presley showed up, unannounced, and asked to speak with the President. Richard Nixon obliged, and the two men had a conversation that history did not record, but has fascinated generations. What is known about the meeting is that Presley gave Nixon a Colt .45 revolver and asked for a job as an honorary federal agent, believing himself to be uniquely qualified to help keep teenagers off drugs (a feat he didn’t manage for himself). The two seemingly vastly different men were united by their dislike of hippies, and a mutual feeling that the culture was passing them by.
Now that strange, historic meeting will be dramatized in director Liza Johnson’s upcoming film Elvis & Nixon, co-written by Cary Elwes (yes, that Cary Elwes), and starring Kevin Spacey as the President and Michael Shannon as the King. Spacey is no stranger to slimy politicians, given his current run on House Of Cards. Shannon is the more unorthodox choice, but playing an intense, isolated man who’s starting to creep into paranoia and delusion sounds like it’s right in Shannon’s wheelhouse.
The two actors are replacing Eric Bana and Shannon’s Boardwalk Empire costar Danny Huston, who dropped out when the project was put on hold to rework the script.