Michelle Pfeiffer is to play Betty Ford in a new anthology series about US First Ladies.
The Scarface actress (62) will portray the wife of Gerald Ford, who was President of the United States from August 1974 to January 1977.
The series, called The First Lady, will be executive produced by Oscar winner Viola Davis, who will play Michelle Obama, while The Night Manager’s Susanne Bier will direct.
Pfeiffer wrote on Instagram: “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.”
During her time in the White House, Mrs Ford helped to raised awareness of addiction and substance abuse by going public with her own alcoholism.
She also co-founded the addiction treatment centre that bears her name.
Davis has previously spoken about her nerves at playing Mrs Obama in the show, telling The Graham Norton Show: “People love Michelle Obama. They feel like they know her, they own her – and they do not want anything that is negative to touch her.”
She added: “Everything you think, feel, see with Michelle Obama is all that she is.
“We know that. But I always say ‘You can talk to my husband, you can talk to my daughter, you can talk to my mom about me’ – if someone were going to play me in a biopic – ‘but you would still only know 40 or 50% of me’.”
“You’re not going to know some deep, dark secrets that I wouldn’t even share with the people who are closest to me.
“And it’s all that info that you gather as an actor to create another human being. So, now I got Michelle Obama, what do I do with that?”
