Obsessed With Film

Posted by Matt Holmes

You aren’t likely to have heard of him but Eugene Allen’s biopic should make for a compelling film, at least as interesting as that of many rock, pop and film stars.

Allen served as the butler in the White House for 34 YEARS most, watching at first hand the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy, the tensions and true horror’s of the Korean, Vietnam and Cold Wars, the Nixon scandal, the first men on the moon and EIGHT terms of U.S. Presidents!

It also just happened that he was black and was appointed in 1952 when he won’t even have been able to use public restrooms in some states, including his home in Virginia.

The Hollywood Reporter carry the news that Columbia Pictures have picked up the rights to the Nov. 7th Washington Post article written by Will Haywood that told of Allen’s extraordinary life and career, which ended in 1986, when Ronald Reagan was in office.

He claims he never took a single day off during his tenure. How could you when life the work environment was so compelling?

According to the article, President Truman called him “Gene” and President Ford would talk about his golf game with him. He was clearly well liked.

Allen and his wife of 65 years would talk and laugh about whether a black man could ever become president which no doubt became more and more of a possibility as the decades went on. On election day, Allen, now 89, cast his vote but sadly his wife died the day before.

Barack Obama of course won the Presidency and begins his term of office in January. But the movie will tell us that Allen preceded him to the be first black man in the White House by many, many years.

What an exciting movie this should be. Who will they cast as the butler and what about trying to cast all of the eight presidents… Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan?

Haywood (the journalist behind the article) will associate producer and help with the research. Laura Ziskin, the producer of the SPIDER-MAN movies will do the same job and told the trade she wanted the movie to work…

“as a portrait of an extraordinary African-American man who has lived to see the world turn. It’s about the essence of this man and what he saw, as well as the love story with his wife.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FASCINATING ARTICLE WHICH CONVINCED COLUMBIA TO MAKE A BIOPIC ABOUT A BUTLER!

categories - Eugene Allen, Movie News

Further Reading

• Tim Allen is a Redbelt

• Brucey on W. - The George Bush Biopic

• Woody Allen news…

• The exploitation of Anna Nicole Smith begins next week

• Greatest Movie Scenes #80 - BONNIE AND CLYDE

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