A play about Rupert Murdoch's life is having trouble casting the title role.
From Deadline Hollywood:
A West End stage production of David Williamson’s revue-style play Rupert is evidently having a hard time finding someone to fill the role of the eponymous Rupert Murdoch. Playwright Williamson told the BBC on Wednesday, “We’ve found that some actors are actually scared of playing Rupert on stage.” That’s a bit of a surprise considering actors’ general affinity for meaty parts, and especially given that Murdoch’s own paper, The Australian, gave the play largely positive notices when it debuted in Melbourne in 2013. Nevertheless, Aussie Williamson told the BBC that if an actor can’t be found for the West End run, due to begin in the first half of 2015, the show could be in jeopardy.
In Australia, the role has been filled by veteran actor James Cromwell. He's not feeling any butterflies, either. From Yahoo News:
Cromwell told The Sydney Morning Herald how he isn't scared about taking on the daunting role of playing such a powerful figure in his home nation.
"Let's put it this way – I'm not at the beginning of my career," he said. "I don't give a f**k what he does to me. If this is going to be my last shot, I think it's a good one."
Whether or not the Rupert play goes forward, George Clooney seems to have no fears about producing an adaptation of Hack Attack, the film about Murdoch's phone hacking scandal.
Meanwhile, HuffPost Live has some suggestions for the Rupert role on stage. You can watch them below.
Murdoch graphic credit: DonkeyHotey via photopin cc
LOL — just a couple?
Besides, I don’t think its the putty they fear so much as the danger of Rupert’s character/personality invading and overtaking their bodies, a la Jekyll and Hyde . . .
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Christian Bale, Mickey Rourke or Robert DeNiro can project that right amount of evil malice.
Of course, there is always Daniel-Day Lewis who can play anyone.
