Follow the De Niro (ZERO DAY, 2025)
Fake Presidents
In Netflix's 6-part series ZERO DAY, Robert De Niro plays a former U.S President with cognitive issues (who chose not to run for reelection), and Angela Bassett is a current U.S. President with a great wardrobe. Together they must figure out who perpetrated the greatest, deadliest hack in U.S. history! Well, actually, it's mostly just De Niro doing the figuring and the outing. Joan Allen, Jesse Plemons, and Connie Britton round out De Niro's inner circle, while Lizzy Caplan and Matthew Modine are members of congress "just asking questions" about De Niro's investigative operation. But the...
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This is POTUS (PARADISE, 2025)
Fake Presidents
In Hulu's newest TV series PARADISE, James Marsden is a murdered U.S. president, and Sterling K. Brown is the Secret Service agent at the center of the investigation. Oh, and (SPOILER ALERT) the whole series takes place in [REDACTED] because [REDACTED] and the truth is that [REDACTED] also [REDACTED] and everyone is [REDACTED]. From Dan Fogelman, who also wrote THIS IS US and CARS. Find us at Fake_Presidents on , , and , or email us fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the convo!
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Red Hulk Gives You Wiiings (CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, 2025)
Fake Presidents
Happy Presidents Day! To mark the occasion, we rushed out opening weekend to check out the return of Harrison Ford to the White House. Well, technically, in AIR FORCE ONE, Ford never made it to the White House, but this time, in Marvel's CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, Indy gets scenes in the Oval, in the Rose Garden, in the Residence, in a battleship, and he even gets some more action aboard Air Force One (well, some Peloton action, that is). Oh yeah, and Anthony Mackie is the Captain America with wings trying to keep President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross from losing his cool. ...
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The Dude-In-Chief (THE CONTENDER, 2000)
Fake Presidents
We cover 2000's THE CONTENDER starring Jeff Bridges as a U. S. president sometime between 2007 and 2010. Joan Allen is a senator nominated to fill an open VP slot who refuses to address any allegations of sexual impropriety in her past. Gary Oldman is a congressman trying to destroy her during the confirmation hearings. Does anyone actually read these show notes? Do we need to mention that Christian Slater, Sam Elliott, William Peterson, Mike Binder, and Saul Rubinek are all in it, too, in order to game some search engines? You know, for all the Rubinek-heads out there? The episode...
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Mail to the Chief (YEAR END MAILBAG!)
Fake Presidents
Let's close out the year by digging into some messages from listeners, and then look ahead at the year to come in fake White Houses! Topics covered: Who do we think should play a president that hasn't? A listener suggests our next movie to cover... should we do it?! Our preview of upcoming movies and shows on our radar, including Shondaland's THE RESIDENCE and Dan Fogelman's PARADISE. Is RED ONE secretly a Fake President movie? Did Eric include a fake potus in the new Audible audio series THE SIGNAL he created? And more! Got a question or comment you want to get to us directly? Email us at...
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Banie Bros (THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, 2012)
Fake Presidents
What? You don't remember there being a POTUS in 2012's Christopher Nolan-directed, Christian Bale-starring THE DARK KNIGHT RISES? Neither did we! But there is one, and he's got a whole monologue and everything! Find us on , , and , or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the convo!
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Quid Pro Cho (The Presidents of THE TWILIGHT ZONE)
Fake Presidents
This Halloween, let's take a spookily ironic look at every president ever portrayed in any episode of any version of THE TWILIGHT ZONE! (It's not that many) Believe it or not, it wasn't until Jordan Peele's 2019 reboot of The Twilight Zone that we got the series' first truly fake president. In "The Wunderkind," John Cho stars as a hotshot campaign manager, Jacob Tremblay as the 11-year-old candidate for American president Cho takes under his wing, John Larroquette as "a" fake POTUS (but not "the" fake POTUS of the episode), Allison Tolman as the episode's sole voice of reason, and Jordan Peele...
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Bee Pluribus Unum (THE BEEKEEPER, 2024)
Fake Presidents
Did you know there's a fake president in Jason Statham's pulpy, hit actioner THE BEEKEEPER? We didn't! Not until a listener gave us the heads up. British thespian Jemma Redgrave plays the American president. Josh Hutcherson is her not-quite-failson. Jeremy Irons is back in Alfred-mode. And Minnie Driver inexplicably gets a couple scenes for no real apparent reason. We know what this movie says about scamming the elderly (it's bad!)... but what does it say about American politics in the year 2024? Find us on and at Fake_Presidents or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the...
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Better Red Than Dead (STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, 1991)
Fake Presidents
It's the last cinematic voyage of the original Enterprise crew, but the first (and only) for the new Federation President, played by The 70s Show's Kurtwood Smith. Kurtwood joins William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, as well as Star Trek newcomers Kim Cattrall, Christopher Plummer, David Warner, and... Christian Slater? What kind photos did Kim Cattrall get in trouble for taking on the set after hours? How much Shakespheare in space is too much? If the Klingons in this cold war-inspired story are...
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HasbrOTUS (G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA, 2009)
Fake Presidents
From a Ken Doll in fatigues to "action figures" with kung fu grip to an afterschool cartoon and finally to... a live action theatrical release! It's 2009's G.I. JOE: RISE OF CORBA. The fictional President is nameless, but is he also faceless? (Well...technically, yes, in a way, but we'll get to that...) THE MUMMY'S Stephen Sommers directs a cast of literally thousands (of names). Every character (except for The President) has at least two names, some have three. It's needlessly complicated. But is the nefarious plan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's The Doctor aka Cobra Commander aka...
info_outlineFrom a Ken Doll in fatigues to "action figures" with kung fu grip to an afterschool cartoon and finally to... a live action theatrical release! It's 2009's G.I. JOE: RISE OF CORBA. The fictional President is nameless, but is he also faceless? (Well...technically, yes, in a way, but we'll get to that...)
THE MUMMY'S Stephen Sommers directs a cast of literally thousands (of names). Every character (except for The President) has at least two names, some have three. It's needlessly complicated. But is the nefarious plan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's The Doctor aka Cobra Commander aka Rexford "Rex" Lewis also needlessly complicated? (Yes, yes it is. Very much so.)
Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Rachel Nichols, Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Quaid, Lee Byung-hun, Arnold Vosloo, Ray Park, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and an uncredited Brendan Fraser star alongside Sir Jonathan Pryce as the faux potus.
Find us on most social media sites at "Fake_Presidents." Or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com if you want to be in the next mail bag. (And you do!)
00:00 Intro
2:32 - Background
10:47 - The Channing Tatum Game
16:45 - The Plot
33:18 - What is the movie trying to tell us?
40:35 - What do we know about this POTUS?
43:36 - Approval Ratings
49:54 - Closing
51:39 - Post-Credits Bit