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Aaron Eckhart Elected Commander in Chief for 'Olympus Has Fallen'

by Ben Pearson
June 22, 2012
Source: Variety

After playing District Attorney Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, Aaron Eckhart is moving up the political ladder to the highest office of them all: The President of the United States. Variety reports that Eckhart will take office in Olympus Has Fallen, the other White House action movie not to be confused with Roland Emmerich's White House Down. Olympus is being directed by Training Day helmer Antoine Fuqua and has Gerard Butler in the lead role. Written by first-timers Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, the film's story is also being described as "Die Hard in the White House," so we'll see which one comes first.

The plot follows a former Secret Service agent who becomes America's last hope when terrorists take over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This is yet another case of Hollywood developing multiple projects at the same time, but what often happens is that only one movie wins the race to production first and the competition falls by the wayside. When they both make it through, we get scenarios like what happened earlier this year with two Snow White movies coming out a few months apart from each other, and perhaps that's a good example because though those movies were technically about the same character, they ended up being wildly different. Let's hope with a cast as good as Gerard Butler and the underrated Eckhart, Olympus Has Fallen gets underway and ends up giving the Channing Tatum-led White House Down a run for its money.

Filed under Casting, Movie News

From around the web:

Thexn

I really like the line up of talent that is being attached to this movie. I enjoyed Training Day and The Replacement Killers, and hope Antoine Fuqua can keep that sort of intensity going in this one. And I agree the Aaron Eckhart was underrated and overshadowed by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. He brought a feeling of frustrated humanity to his role as Harvey Dent, and I think he'll make a great commander in chief. And Gerard Butler as the Secret Service agent pulling a John McClane inside the White House sounds like a great mix to me. Looking forward to hearing more on this title!
- Akirakorn
  
  just like Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face.. poor guy/character got shit on and thrown to the wolves. Two-Face is a classic villain, awesome foil for Batman, and deserved his own movie... in both franchises. Tangent Rant. YAY!
- son_et_lumiere
  
  yep, a fine actor, this is good casting. i thought he was outstanding in TDK. he has the ability to always make you root for his characters, which is why the White Knight of Gotham's turn to darkness worked so well. even in one of his best roles, Thank You For Smoking, where he is playing an unprincipled immoral exploiter, you hope he'll come out on top. i can buy him as the President, for sure.
Ehsan Davodi

I think " President Obama " must be gotten ready for some serious shitty troubles on courtyard of Whitty House ! He must more focus on Emmerich I think , Roland is Sabotage in size of Whole Goddamn World not only on White or Black House! He is very thirsty and even explode White House earlier for once cross independence day ! News said situations even get more worst because unfortunately Foqua have some skill in shooting too! Mr.Peresident : Don't Let Mark Wahlberg involve Foqua'sProject , they are Invincible Team and mark is good calm damn down shooter but Don't be botherd mr.Obama , Abe is alive at least for this Year and is very angry about this guys too , search him & invite him , he is near Transylvania today (I think) and be watch his Bloody Fucking Shining AXE too! Bloody Hell ! Competition between Foqua & Emmerich for Taking Down The White House is Incredible! Im on side of Foqua's Version anyway. Emmerich always prove he emphasis on Extravagandaism Not Storytelling but for Foqua story is more important. eXteremely eXited
- octopus
  
  Ummm.....what?
  - Ehsan Davodi
    
    Ask the Heath Ledger , he Wana put smile on face of peoples
Thexn

I think that's going to be the key factor here. A great example is when Tombstone and Wyatt Earp came out about 6 months apart. While Costner's Wyatt Earp was the more visually sweeping and historically correct version of the film, I'm sure most fans will recount their favorite of the two as Tombstone. And a big part of that would be Val Kilmer's performance as Doc Holiday, a role that stole the show. I'm hoping Eckhart can generate that sort of buzz in this one.