The Crown's John Lithgow: I want to play Boris Johnson in Brexit: The Movie
He may be Winston Churchill in The Crown, but he’s already got his eye on his next political role
John Lithgow has said he wants to play Boris Johnson when a Brexit movie lands.
The American actor, who is portraying Winston Churchill in new Netflix series The Crown, created by Peter Morgan, said: “It suddenly occurred to me that Peter Morgan has to write about this Brexit moment. And I want to play Boris Johnson. I want dibs on that part!”
He told the Guardian that he thinks Brexit is “a disaster”, which hints at what kind of portrayal Lithgow would give our new foreign secretary.
A film called Brexit: The Movie was released in May, advocating for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, to terrible reviews.
On his current part as Churchill in Morgan’s period drama about the young Queen Elizabeth II, Lithgow said he was “floored, completely floored” to be offered the role.
When he found out about the casting, he looked in the mirror to see if he bore any resemblance to the wartime prime minister, “And I said, ‘yeah I can sort of see that!’ You get north of 70 years old and you become a little Churchillian, in spite of yourself.”
The Crown premieres on Netflix on Friday 4 November
