Meet the Stars of “2012: The Movie”

Jon Hamm as Mitt Romney. Steven Seagal as Joe Biden. Casting the inevitable TV movie based on the 2012 election.

When HBO inevitably makes a miniseries or made-for-TV movie out of the insanely unpredictable 2012 presidential election, here are the really, really, really ridiculously good-looking people who will hopefully star in it.

 

1. Jon Hamm as Mitt Romney

Sexiest man. creditOne of these men won GQ‘s “International Man” award in 2010. One did not. s_bukley/Shutterstock; Gage Skidmore/Flickr

 

2. Paul Rudd as Paul Ryan

this has this has When life gives you lemons, just say ‘fuck the lemons’ and bail,” is actually an apt metaphor for Ryan’s policy proposals for Medicaid. Featureflash/Shutterstock; love4utah/Flickr

 

 

3. Giancarlo Esposito as Barack Obama

slick flickrIn a sick sort of way, Esposito already has played the president. NBC; Elizabeth Cromwell/Wikimedia Commons

 

4. Steven Seagal as Joe Biden

Joe Biden will not return for "Machete Kills."  flickr Joe Biden will not return for Machete Kills. 20th Century Fox; isafmedia/Flickr

 

5. Regina King as Michelle Obama

Caption caption wiki ; wikiSome of King’s most overtly political roles: The Ant Bully and Legally Blonde 2. Regina King; Joyce N. Boghosian/The White House

 

6. Jayma Mays as Ann Romney

If Elizabeth  wiki ; wikiIf Elizabeth Banks could play Laura Bush, then… (Also, Amy Poehler as a runner-up.) Kristin Dos Santos/Flickr; fredthompson/Flickr


7. Jonah Hill as Newt Gingrich

the wiki ; wikiHill has range. He’s played a Japanese samurai before. IowaPolitics.com/Flickr; Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

 

8. Sir Ian McKellen as Ron Paul

The ring was indeed gold. wiki ; wikiThe ring was indeed gold. LOTR Wiki; Ludwig von Mises Institute

 

9. Steve Carell as Rick Santorum

He admits  wiki ; wikiHe admits it, too. Universal Studios; Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

 

 

10. Jon Voight as Donald Trump

Also, political blood brothers. wiki ; wikiAlso, political blood brothers. Poppleganger/YouTube; Gage Skidmore/Flickr

 

 

11. Will Ferrell as Rick Perry

Ferrell is also real-life fraternity brothers with this other Republican you might have heard of. wiki ; wikiFerrell is also a fraternity brother of another Republican you might have heard of. Warner Bros.; Rick Perry/Facebook

 

 

12. James Earl Jones as Herman Cain

For the record,  wiki ; wikiBoth alto singers, but only one of them has serenaded pizza pies. Gage Skidmore/Flickr; Screenshot: The White House

 

 

13. Vin Diesel as Cory Booker

The both . wiki ; wikiBoth men rescue civilians from burning buildings professionally. Andre Portfolio/Flickr; Official website of Newark

 

 

14. Gene Simmons as Moammar Qaddafi

"shitty" - either of them, probably. wiki ; wiki“[Obama’s] been a piss-poor president as far as I’m concerned.” — Either of them, probably. (In 2012: The Movie, Qaddafi appears in a crucial, Libya-related 2011 flasback. Why not?) Luke Ford/Wikimedia Commons; James Gordon/Wikimedia Commons

 

 

15. Clint Eastwood as Clint Eastwood

He was in a movie with Justin Timberlake in 2012, too. wiki ; wikiHe was in a movie with Justin Timberlake in 2012, too, just so you know. Screenshot: Alec McRae/YouTube; Zach D. Roberts/Twitter

 

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (to meet the demands of a gigantic cast and epic scope)

Screenwriter: Not Aaron Sorkin (as pennance for this)

More casting and character ideas? Leave ’em in the comments.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

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