First look at Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan in The Butler

The first image of Alan Rickman as President Ronald Reagan, and Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, has been revealed online by an unlikely source: Oprah Winfrey’s Twitter account .

The TV presenter and all-round media giant was on-set of Lee Daniels’ The Butler , when the photo was taken.

The Precious director’s next film follows Forest Whitaker’s Cecil Gaines, the eponymous butler who serves 8 US presidents in the White House over the course of his three-decade tenure.

In this snap at least, Rickman and Fonda look uncannily like their real-life counterparts. Winfrey is also has a role in the film, as Gloria Gaines.

Among the other lookalikey jobs we can look forward to are John Cusack as Richard Nixon, Robin Williams as Dwight Eisenhower and James Marsden as John F. Kennedy.

While we’re still a mite sceptical over some of those casting choices, Rickman’s incredible transformation has got us keen to see what Daniels’ team will pull out of the bag for the remainder of the players.

The Butler is expected to open at some point in 2013. We’re guessing it’ll arrive in time for awards season. Just a hunch.

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.