Woody Harrelson (True Detective, Zombieland) va juca rolul celui de-al 36-lea Presedinte american, Lyndon Baines Johnson in LBJ, un nou film biografic regizat de celebrul Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally…, A Few Good Men).

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Debutantul Joey Hartstone a scris scenariul noii drame politice, care va spune povestea lui Johnson de la copilaria lui in Vestul Texas-ului la ascensiunea lui politica in functia de Vicepresedinte si apoi Presedinte al S.U.A. Acesta a ocupat cea mai inalta functie in stat dupa asasinarea lui John F. Kennedy din 1963. In timpul mandatului sau la Casa Alba, Johnson a jucat un rol crucial in legislatia drepturilor civile fundamentale si a ajutat milioane de americani sa iasa din saracie prin schema sa numita Razboiul contra Saraciei (War On Poverty). Cu toate acestea, el a hotarat sa nu mai candideze a doua oara la Presedintie, din cauza violentelor tot mai numeroase din interiorul S.U.A. si din Vietnam. Lyndon Baines Johnson a fost succedat de Richard Nixon in ianuarie 1969; la patru zile dupa ce a parasit Biroul Oval, Johnson a murit in urma unui atac de cord, la doar 64 de ani.

In ultimii ani, Lyndon Baines Johnson a fost interpretat de Live Schrieber in The Butler, drama din 2013 regizata de Lee Daniels, de Tom Wilkinson in Selma, intr-un rol destul de controversat in filmul regizoarei Ava DuVernay si de Bryan Cranston pe Broadway, in piesa All The Way, pentru care a castigat Premiul Tony.

Despre noul sau film, regizorul Rob Reiner a declarat:

“During the ’60s, I was a hippy, and Lyndon Johnson was my president. At the time LBJ was the target of most of my generation’s anti-Vietnam War anger. But as time has passed and my understanding of political realities has grown, I’ve come to see LBJ in a very different light. He was a complex man, a combination of brilliant political instinct, raw strength, ambition and deep insecurities. The strength and power of persuasion that he showed to his colleagues existed alongside a soft, almost childlike quality that perhaps only [first lady Claudia] Lady Bird [Johnson] got to see. His life’s path was nothing short of Shakespearean. From the poor hill country of West Texas to the corridors of power in Washington, he used his brilliant political acumen to pass the most groundbreaking civil rights legislation of the 20th century. And had it not been for the Vietnam War, I believe he would have gone down as one of America’s greatest presidents.”