One Movie, Two Governors!
Channel surfing last night, I ran into the Running Man, an unfortunate movie "adaption" of a pretty good Steven King (as Richard Bachman) book. For those who have seen one and not the other, they have little in common with each other.
What I hadn't realized before was just how bizarre the casting for this movie was -- Richard Dawson, the cheesy game show host as a ... cheesy game show host. Jim Brown, Dweezil Zappa and Mick Fleetwood? The latter, by the way, as himself but in the future. Whatever.
But the best part is that the movie has two United States governors in substantial roles -- Arnold Schwarzenegger (California) in the title role and Jesse Ventura (Minnesota) as one of the "stalkers" trying to kill Arnold. Is this a great country or what?
Do ya'll know any others? I know Sonny Bono did a Love Boat guest appearance, so there must have been two Congressmen in one TV episode (with Fred Grandy of Iowa). There may be a Fred Thompson +1 out there I can't think of. And of course there were probably some Ronald Reagan matchups, but that is before my time.
Update: Rob reminds me that the Ventura-Schwarzenegger team can also be found in Predator.
Justin:
Schwarzenegger and Ventura where both also in Predator, released in the same year as The Running Man.
November 9, 2008, 11:25 amElliot:
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura in Predator. Sonny Landham ran for governor of Kentucky in 2003, and later for other offices. I saw an interview with one of his co-stars who stated that the Predator production hired a bodyguard for Landham, to protect other people from him. Carl Weathers, who was also in the film, did a facetious campaign commercial for himself as governor of "anywhere" on SNL.
November 9, 2008, 11:32 amrandomscrub:
Arnold and Ventura were both in Batman and Robin. (Arnold was Mr. Freeze, Ventura was an idiot prison guard).
November 9, 2008, 2:34 pmBlackadder:
The current President and former Prime Minister of Poland are twin brothers who as children starred in a popular Polish film, The Two Who Stole the Moon.
November 9, 2008, 2:53 pmDr. T:
You must know about Fred Thompson! He was the U. S. Senator for Tennessee from 1994-2003. He was in one episode of Sex and the City in 2000, the movie Rachel and Andrew Jackson: A Love Story in 2001, 116 episodes of Law & Order from 2002-2007, and 11 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2003–2006.
November 9, 2008, 7:42 pmDKH:
Dr. T:
I think the question with respect to Fred Thompson is whether he has appeared with another Senator or other government official in any of those shows.
November 9, 2008, 11:40 pmAnothre guy named Dan:
Grandy and Thompson are both credited with an episode of Law and Order in 2003. IIRC, both Rudy Guliani and Elliot Spitzer have made cameos as themselves, but since they are uncredited, IMDB doesn't indicate if they overlapped with Thompson.
November 10, 2008, 7:40 pm