Forest Whitaker‘s career has fascinated me for years. Generally liked by critics and an Oscar winner for 2006’s The Last King of Scotland, his filmography is littered with some truly head-scratching roles that have undoubtedly hindered his standing as one of the better actors going today (Battlefield Earth and Repo Men being two of the more confusing, although I like the latter far more than others do).
Currently starring in a Criminal Minds spin-off for CBS, he has been keeping quiet as of late, but might be headed back to theaters in a big (and possibly award-winning) way. Variety reports that Whitaker is in negotiations to star in The Butler, the passion project of Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire director Lee Daniels. The script, which the helmer co-wrote with Danny Strong (Recount, Game Change), is based on a Washington Post story by Wil Haygood, which is itself about Eugene Allen, who started working for the White House as a pantry man in 1952 and rose through the ranks to become the head butler (Maître d‘) until his retirement in 1986. Whitaker would take over the role originally offered to Denzel Washington, whose involvement never really got off the ground.
Whitaker is not the only name mentioned in conjunction with The Butler; David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Red Tails) is also in negotiations to play Allen’s son (he was originally thought to be up for the main role), and Oprah Winfrey herself is in talks for Allen’s wife. Liam Neeson, Hugh Jackman, Mila Kunis, and John Cusack have all been rumored by this point, too. Although no financing is in place and the casting is not final, The Butler is aiming to start production this summer should all the pieces fall into place.
The Butler has a tremendous amount of potential; Eugene Allen’s life as part of the White House undoubtedly lead to some fascinating stories worth telling on the big-screen, while Daniels and company are looking in the right places in terms of its casting. Maybe this could even earn Whitaker a ticket out of the doldrums and back into interesting work. All he’d have to do after this is avoid another mistake like Vantage Point.
Any thoughts on the casting? Does this sound Oscar-worthy or Oscar Bait-y?