Top 10 Movie Presidents

Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd

Everett

The template for The West Wing — Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay and Martin Sheen plays the president’s chief of staff — The American President is a Rob Reiner flick anchored by Douglas as a widower who falls in love with an environmental lobbyist played by Annette Bening. While President Shepherd runs for re-election and negotiates a new crime bill, he goes on dates with the gal: A state dinner here, an evening at a D.C. restaurant there. The press watches from the sidewalk, Britney style. Says Douglas before leaning in for a kiss with Bening, “Do you think there’ll ever come a time when you can stand in a room with me and not think of me as the President?” A little mysogynistic perhaps, but theatrical enough to make even the most cynical viewer feel at least a twinge of romantic patriotism.