by: S. Scott Stanikmas

How crazy is this: Slashfilm is reporting someone thought it would be a neat idea to cast Michael Shannon as Elvis Presley and Kevin Spacey as Richard Nixon in the upcoming film titled (what else) Elvis & Nixon. And I have to agree, that does sound pretty cool.

The famous photo of the King of Rock and Roll and one of the most infamous men to ever sit In the Oval Office, taken on December 21^st 1970, has been fodder for a film for quite some time. It was the basis for a 1997 comedy named Elvis Meets Nixon. And the new film starring Shannon and Spacey is actually a project that has been trying to get off the ground since 2011, back when Cary Elwes was set to direct with Eric Bana and Danny Huston in the lead roles.

The new film will still retain elements of the Elwes penned script, according to a press release. It will also now be directed by Liza Johnson.

I think Spacey is a perfect fit for the role of Nixon. He can do it all and his recent run on the Netflix series House Of Cards shows that he doesn’t mind getting political.

Michael Shannon has been one of my favorites since I first saw him in Bug. I don’t think I can name one role that he’s done that I haven’t enjoyed watching him play. I even like what little time he had on screen in 8 Mile. I’m excited to see his take on the King (although it will be hard to top Bruce Campbell’s version of Elvis from Bubba Ho-Tep).

The premise is a little thin: Elvis came to the White House on that December day to ask to be sworn in as an undercover Federal Agent at large. It’s going to take a lot of creative license to stretch that into a feature film, but if we get Shannon and Spacey on screen for two hours then I’m in.