Dakota Fanning has signed on to play Susan Ford in the Showtime anthology series “The First Lady,” Variety has learned.
Susan is the only daughter of Betty Ford and President Gerald Ford, who will be played in the series by Michelle Pfeiffer and Aaron Eckhart respectively. Susan was a teenager during her father’s time in the White House and is said to have often introduced progressive ideas to her family.
“The First Lady” will also star Viola Davis a Michelle Obama, Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt, and O-T Fagbenle as President Barack Obama, among others. The series is described as a reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House.
Fanning will be a series regular, appearing in six episodes. The role reunites her with Pfeiffer, with whom she starred in the 2001 film “I Am Sam.” Her appearance in the film earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, making her the youngest person to be nominated for the award at the age of seven. Fanning was most recently seen in the TNT series “The Alienist.” Her feature credits include “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” “War of the Worlds,” “Uptown Girls,” “Man on Fire,” the “Twilight” films, and “Please Stand By.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety