LBJ is a 2016 American political drama film about the beginning of the presidency of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson following the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. It was directed by Rob Reiner and written by Joey Hartstone, whose script was on the 2014 Black List. The film stars Woody Harrelson as the titular President, along with Richard Jenkins, Bill Pullman, Kim Allen, Michael Stahl-David, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey Donovan, Doug McKeon, C. Thomas Howell, and Michael Mosley.
Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Dallas, and Washington D.C. from September to December 2015. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2016. It was theatrically released by Electric Entertainment and Vertical Entertainment on November 3, 2017. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who called it “surface skimming” and criticized Harrelson’s makeup, and with some comparing it negatively to the 2016 HBO film about Johnson, All the Way.
Plot
The story centers on the political upheaval that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson faced when he was thrust into the presidency at the hands of an assassin’s bullet on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. After Kennedy’s death, Sarah Hughes administers the oath of the office for LBJ. With political battles on both sides of the aisle, Johnson works to heal a nation and secure his presidency by passing Kennedy’s historic Civil Rights Act in 1964.
Cast
Harrelson talks to the media before a screening of LBJ at the LBJ Presidential Library
Woody Harrelson as Lyndon B. Johnson
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lady Bird Johnson
Michael Stahl-David as Robert F. Kennedy
Richard Jenkins as Senator Richard Russell
Bill Pullman as Senator Ralph Yarborough
Jeffrey Donovan as John F. Kennedy
Kim Allen as Jacqueline Kennedy
Brent Bailey as Ted Sorensen
John Burke as John Connally
John Ellison Conlee as George Reedy
Oliver Edwin as Bill Moyers
Darrel Guilbeau as Jack Valenti
Gary Grubbs as Senator Everett Dirksen
C. Thomas Howell as Walter Jenkins
Wallace Langham as Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Kate Butler as Juanita Roberts
Doug McKeon as Hubert Humphrey
Michael Mosley as Kenneth O’Donnell
Tim Ransom as Larry O’Brien
Rich Sommer as Pierre Salinger
Brian Stepanek as Rufus Youngblood
Reviews
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