So far, there are only a few actors officially attached to Oliver Stone's W., the epic biopic about our current commander-in-chief. Josh Brolin was cast as President George W. Bush back in January, then recently Elizabeth Banks was chosen as his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, and last week James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn were locked into the roles of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, respectively. Unofficial casting bites, though, include a lot of other big name actors. Jeffrey Wright is reportedly in negotiations to play Colin Powell, Tommy Lee Jones is supposedly being sought for Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Duvall has been rumored to be the choice for Vice President Dick Cheney and now both Paul Giamatti and Toby Jones are being named as potentials for the part of Karl Rove (who Giamatti may have already channeled for his character in Shoot 'Em Up).

Did you expect something else from the title of this entry? For shame. Today is TV and film actor Dan Hedaya's birthday, and when I found this out last night, it was such a coincidence that I knew I had to post an image from the 1999 film Dick, in which Hedaya plays Richard Nixon. My husband and I like this often-overlooked little gem of a comedy so much that we invited friends over this weekend to watch the DVD and served themed snacks. (I made Hello Dollies, a bar cookie that figures quite prominently in this movie, although I used plain old pecans instead of the rather special walnuts in the film.)

If you haven't seen Dick, I recommend it highly: Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst play two clueless 15-year-olds who happen to be roaming around the Watergate Hotel on the night of the famous 1972 break-in. Subsequently, they become entangled in all kinds of related political events. The cast also includes Harry Shearer as G. Gordon Liddy, Dave Foley as Bob Haldeman, and Will Ferrell and Bruce McCullogh in what may be my favorite portrayals of Woodward and Bernstein. I don't know why more people don't like Dick ... my guess is that everyone gets very silly about the title, or they assume that a movie with Dunst and Williams is for teenagers, which this absolutely is not. So bake yourself up a batch of Hello Dollies and give Dick a try.