Michelle Pfeiffer cast as Betty Ford in ‘First Lady’

The star power in the upcoming TV series The First Lady is real. As if it wasn’t enough that Viola Davis has been cast as Michelle Obama in the anthology series, now Michelle Pfeiffer has been tapped for the role of former First Lady Betty Ford.

The three-time Oscar nominee has officially joined the Showtime series, which is being touting as a “revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House.” In order to tell that precise story, the show will focus on three specific former First Ladies: Obama, Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt, whose casting is yet to be announced at time of press. 

“The First Lady, coming to @showtime. I’m so excited to share this experience with the incredible @violadavis and @susannebier! It’s an honour to be a part of telling Betty’s story,” Pfeiffer shared on Instagram following the announcement. 

Betty Ford, married to President Gerald Ford, was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977. During that time, she was essentially the first politically active presidential spouse, partaking in matters of social policy. She is also responsible for founding the Betty Ford Center, the now-famous centre that is dedicated to helping people recover from drug and alcohol dependence, which she did after opening up about her own struggles with substance abuse. Today she is credited by many for reshaping the role of the First Lady in Washington. She passed away in 2011, five years after her husband.

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Pfeiffer is known for many of her big screen roles, including her Oscar-nominated turns in Dangerous Liaisons, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Love Field. But she has also generated plenty of pop culture buzz through roles like Catwoman on Batman Returns, as Queen Ingrith in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and as the ex-Marine teacher struggling to reach her students in the 1995 film Dangerous Minds.

The actor isn’t the only one bringing Academy Award power to The First Lady (working title) though. Davis won the statue in 2017 for her work on Fences, after being nominated twice before for The Help and Doubt. Meanwhile, Showtime also announced that Oscar-winning director Susanne Bier (In a Better World, The Undoing) has also been hired to direct and executive produce the anthology series.

“Michelle Pfeiffer and Susanne Bier have joined the brilliant and incomparable Viola Davis to bring the remarkable stories of these women into urgent, engrossing and long overdue focus,” said Showtime’s VP of scripted programming, Amy Israel, in an official release. “Michelle brings authenticity, vulnerability and complexity to all her roles, and Susanne is a visionary director who commands the screen with fierce honesty and a singular visual style. With these formidable artists in front of and behind the camera, we couldn’t be more thrilled – especially at this unique moment in time for our nation – about the powerful promise of The First Lady.”

It all sounds exciting, but fans will still have to wait a while until they’re able to indulge in these stories from the comfort of their own homes. There is no official production start date just yet, although the series is expected to hopefully kick off later this year. In the meantime, put on those thinking caps and start speculating about who could potentially play Eleanor Roosevelt, because casting her seems like the next logical step.

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