In the film Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray as FDR, I play the hungry driver who questions why the King gets royal treatment. The film is directed by Roger Michell, written by Richard Nelson, and also stars Laura Linney. The film opened in the U.S. on Dec. 7th. Here’s the trailer:

Bill Murray plays FDR. FDR’s iconic presence imbued the production, including our name cards at the read-through:

Speaking of Hyde Park…

I used to live in Hyde Park — Chicago’s Hyde Park that is — when attending the University of Chicago for grad school. Though Chicago’s Hyde Park was good to me (I met my wife there), it didn’t exactly have a hip and happening reputation. At the time, the U of C was ranked at the very bottom of The Princeton Review’s ratings for party schools, declaring the U of C more sober and anti-social than even the military academies. So perhaps a more appropriate name for Chicago’s Hyde Park would be “Park ‘n’ Hide.”

“I’ve parked and now I must hide!”

I’ve since moved from Chicago to London, home of another Hyde Park of course. But I’d argue that London’s Hyde Park is also a misnomer, being more Jekyll than Hyde. The park has been utterly calm and uneventful for every stroll I’ve ever taken. Of course the park does play host to some massive concerts, including over 250,000 to see The Rolling Stones in 1969, showing it does have some sympathy for the Devil and the impulse-driven Hyde. So, to be fair, perhaps the park should be renamed to “Jekyll and Hyde Park.”

See, Sister Jekyll and Mafia wife Hyde can co-exist on the same park bench.

(Un)related posts:

• My Flickr photo sets from Whistler and Florence, where these ersatz Hyde Park pictures can also be found.