Casting John Edwards

The news broke a day or so ago that Aaron Sorkin was contemplating tackling the John Edwards failed politician/husband/father story.  My thoughts immediately leapt to casting. But of course, Gawker beat us to the punch.  This is how they see it playing out, depending on whose pulling the strings:

Aaron Sorkin: If the rumors are true, we’d like to see Edwards played by Tom Cruise, who can channel his years of experience as a good looking man with shiny hair and a slightly creepy demeanour to good effect. Annette Bening does put-upon wife dealing with her own issues better, and glossier, than anyone. Rielle Hunter, is a tougher call. Meg Ryan looks right, but is too likeable. Felicity Huffman is ideal, but not ditzy enough.

Jerry Bruckheimer: Josh Duhamel plays John Edwards, a man who must save the world by fucking videographers. Megan Fox is Elizabeth, his loyal wife who understands his mission, and sticks with him against the odds, in slow motion, while washing cars. Rielle Hunter is a CGI tank.

Paul Greengrass: Matt Damon plays John Edwards, a politician double-crossed by his government and condemned to run across rooftops and leap through windows for two-and-a-half-hours. Edwards and Hunter, played by Franke Potente, must team up to run around shakily and unravel a conspiracy woven years before by Elizabeth (played by Brendan Gleeson).

Spike Jonze: Gary Coleman plays John Edwards, a politician who is stuck in another man’s body. Catherine Keener is Elizabeth, a bored and sardonic wife who, through a quirk of genetics, is actually aging backwards. Rielle Hunter, who holds the key to Edwards’ transformation, plays herself.

Funny, funny. ¬†But in all seriousness, how would you cast it? ¬†I think Tom Cruise is ideal to play Edwards. ¬†I think Cruise could nail it, southern accent and all. ¬†Brad Pitt could pull it off but he’d need to be able to do a good accent, and I keep hearing his accent from Inglourious Basterds.

Elizabeth needs to be someone not lithe and spirited like Annette Bening but someone much more like Olivia De Havilland.  Do we have any of those? Maybe Jeanne Tripplehorn, a The Firm reunion.

Rielle Hunter can be any blonde but one must remember she was around 42 when they met, so she’s no spring chicken. ¬†For the right actress, this could be a hell of a part. ¬†If it were me, I’d probably go with a blonde Marisa Tomei. ¬†I think she could get the voice right, the ditzy spirituality right and even kind of looks the part. ¬†Or, if they wanted it to be a Scientology joint, they could always go with Jenna Elfman. ¬†Hm.

This project, by the way, is supposedly going to be based on the Andrew Young tell-all. ¬†The story is much more interesting when you look at all of the participants, not just from the Youngs’ perceptive. ¬†Andrew Young’s own devotion to Edwards is as much a part of this love story as Rielle Hunter’s. ¬†To not be able to tell that right would all but ruin it. ¬†A better film would then have to be made that told the whole story.