If this casting comes to pass, it might set a record for “largest discrepancy between reputation of actor and character.” Whatever he’s like privately, in the public eye, John Cusack is a paragon of affability. He’s the ultimate Hollywood nice guy. Rush Limbaugh lies on the opposite end of that spectrum. Dude’s an ogre. So seeing Cusack play the infamously trollish talk radio host would be quite a thing. And, according to THR, that’s exactly what’s in the works.
A representative of New Crime, Cusack’s production company, said that they “are currently considering a project about the larger-than-life radio personality, Rush Limbaugh. Betty Thomas, who covered similar terrain in her portrait of Howard Stern, is interested in directing. The script would explore the rise and reinvention of American Talk Radio, and Limbaugh’s continued influence and impact over the last three decades in that world.”
A friend of mine, upon hearing this news, pointed out that this therefore be Rush Limbaugh’s Private Parts. And since I had to have that horrifying image skewered into my brain, you have to as well. But in all seriousness, the the reinvention of talk radio is actually a ripe subject for a movie to tackle. So I’m going to root for this project to pull through. Production is set to begin next year.
