‘Homeland’ Star Damian Lewis Set To Play Rob Ford In Upcoming Film

Upcoming film “Run This Town” written and directed by Ricky Tollman has casted “Billions” and “Homeland” star Damian Lewis to portray Rob Ford. However, the director states that the film is not a biopic about the late Toronto mayor.

Ford is actually a fairly minor character in Tollman’s story about “a young journalist, desperate to prove himself, who catches wind of a scandal involving a flashy, unpredictable politician with no filter. Political aides attempt to keep their boss in check — and the story under wraps — in order to save their jobs.” Tollman wants to show “a sympathetic portrait” of Ford’s time in office before his passing in 2016.

Tony Award-winning star, Ben Platt, is set to play the newsroom intern who catches on to Ford’s infamous crack-smoking scandal. He wants to be the one to break the news to the public; however, is several steps behind other reporters.

Tollman says many assumed the film was going to focus on Ford and the reporters who documented the controversial case. However, he states that “this is an imagined story representing people that I know that have been trying to make their way in life in the footsteps of people who are much better at their jobs.”

While Tollman is aware there may be other films in the works about Ford’s life and infamous scandal, he is less than concerned about competing with other people’s scripts.

“This isn’t the Rob Ford story,” he says.

“And I didn’t want to portray Rob in a way that people already imagined him or in ways he’s already been portrayed in the media…. I think Rob isn’t just a caricature, he’s a person and he’s a human, he had two children and a wife and a family, and he cared very deeply about the city he was the mayor of. And this was a guy with demons.

“I wanted to show a side of him that people forget about.”

(Photo by DAMIAN LEWIS via Official Website)