Entertainment
Don Cheadle Replaces Anthony Hopkins In An Obama-Backed Revival
By TeeJay Small
| Published
If you’ve been keeping up with entertainment industry trends in recent years, you may already know that Barack and Michelle Obama have launched a production company called Higher Ground. This company generally partners with distributors and streamers such as Netflix to bring inspirational stories to new audiences, with such projects under their belt as Leave The World Behind, Waffles and Mochi, and Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Now, thanks to an exclusive report from Variety, we can confirm that the former President and First Lady will be making their Broadway production debut with a revival of Proof.
Proof is a play written by David Auburn, which originally premiered back in 2000. The story follows a brilliant mathematician as she struggles to piece together her genius father’s unpublished works from the years leading up to his death. As she unravels his semi-coherent ramblings regarding theoretical mathematical proofs, she is assisted by one of his up-and-coming grad students. The original play won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, and it even received a film adaptation in 2005.
Per Variety, the Obama-produced revival of Proof will star The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri in the lead role, with Marvel’s Don Cheadle portraying her father. This is sort of ironic casting, considering the 2005 film adaptation almost exclusively starred Marvel talent as well, before they joined the Disney-owned franchise. 2005’s Proof had Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins in the lead roles, with Jake Gyllenhaal portraying the grad student.
Having recently downgraded their overall deal with Netflix into a first-look deal, it seems as though Barack and Michelle Obama are experimenting with new and exciting storytelling avenues. If the Broadway revival of Proof does well, it could serve as the basis for a motion picture remake with a new cast. While discussing their decision to revive the story, the Obamas explained “Proof is exactly the kind of story Higher Ground was built to champion, a play that asks profound questions about brilliance, doubt, and what we inherit from the people we love most.”
Higher Ground has already taken home numerous Academy Awards for its previous works. To date, the production company has earned six Emmy Awards, three Grammys, and an Oscar. If Barack and Michelle Obama manage to strike gold with their reimagining of Proof, it could make them the very first President and First Lady to earn the coveted EGOT status. That’s not usually the sort of thing politicians pull off in their retirement, but then again, sitting politicians have been doing much stranger things in recent years.