After previously playing the president in the Fallen trilogy alongside Gerard Butler, one Dark Knight actor will portray the Commander in Chief once more. A new report from Deadline revealed that Aaron Eckhart will play the president in the upcoming action film Raider, by director Simon West. West is best known for working on Con Air, the 1997 action thriller starring Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, and John Cusack, and he also directed the 2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider adaptation starring Angelina Jolie. J. Craig Styles, who wrote his first screenplay in 2023 with Miranda’s Victim, will pen the script for Raider.
Raider follows a president (Eckhart) who quickly discovers that the White House is being controlled by a shadow criminal organization after being sworn into office. After refusing to bend to their whim, the president must work with the head of his Secret Service (Danny Huston) to solve a string of mysterious messages left behind by his predecessors in hopes of saving both his family and country. Production is set to begin this fall in Spain, and one of the producers, Steve Lee Jones, spoke about Eckhart playing the lead role in Raider:
“Our lead is a classy and honorable man who puts country first, despite the risks and impossible odds. When he realizes what’s at stake, he simply says ‘No.’ We’re very excited to be working with Aaron again and I can’t imagine a better fit than Simon West to bring this pule-pounding thriller home in spades.”
What Else Has Aaron Eckhart Been in Recently?
Eckhart will always be known for playing Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, in the second installment of Christopher Nolan‘s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight. However, the actor has before and since appeared in several big roles and has consistently stayed busy since he made his acting debut in the early 90s. Eckhart also starred opposite Tom Hanks in the biographical docudrama Sully, which details the true story of pilot Chesley Sullenberg who landed his damaged plane in the Hudson River to save everyone on board. More recently, Eckhart can be seen with Nick Morgan in Chief of Station, Tim Blake Nelson in The Bricklayer, and Bella Thorne in the action thriller Rumble Through the Dark.
Raider does not yet have an official release date attached. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates on the film and catch Eckhart in The Dark Knight, now streaming on Max.
via Collider