I was just watching the “special features” disk that came with The West Wing’s first season on DVD. The casting director mentioned that he and the producers had auditioned an actor for the recurring role of President Bartlet, who did a “great job,” and whom they were “a couple hours away from a deal” with. But then they reconsidered, and ended up with Martin Sheen.
Does anyone know who the first actor was? (I’m looking for factual information, not speculation about who else might have been a good choice.)
Thanks.
I read that the original treatment of the series called for the President to be an “off-stage” character. In other words, we never see the President. The show would have been about JUST the staff.
That would have made for an interesting series.
But somewhere along the line, they realized that it would be difficult to have a lot of the high drama of a WH series (e.g.- few Oval office or SitRoom scenes) without him appearing(I guess they could have had the camera from his perspective and just used his voice…).
I didn’t know there was ever a “first choice” besides Sheen. I too am interested.
I read the same thing as Watson- the emphasis was supposed to be entirely on the speechwriters, advisors and aides, not on the POTUS himself. If the President appeared at all, it was only supposed to be for a few moments, here and there. The President wasn’t supposed to be a major character on the series at all.