Hollywood Expert Weighs In on Casting Trump’s VP
Last week, a jury ruled that Donald Trump was guilty of 34 felony counts. This week, the GOP presidential candidate is vetting running mates to make sure they won’t embarrass the ticket.
Sources told multiple news outlets that Trump’s campaign requested additional information from seven contenders, Marco Rubio, JD Vance, Tim Scott, Byron Donalds, Elise Stefanik, Ben Carson and Doug Burgum.
The reports did not detail what questions are being asked but, based on Trump’s last VP selection process, it’s the superficial that matters most. Back then, Trump made that clear when he described Mike Pence over and over as “straight out of central casting.”
“He’s a real talent, a real guy,” Trump said. “And he is central casting, do we agree? Central casting. He’s been great.”
Pence looked the part, for sure. Every single American Vice President before him had been a white man, often with white hair and a white smile. That made Pence the obvious, stereotypical choice. And the American people bought it.
Then in 2020, Kamala Harris broke the mold. Suddenly, a woman and a person of color could occupy the Naval Observatory.
So what actor would “central casting” send for that part now? The stakes are even higher in 2024 since Trump turns 78 on June 14 and flaunts his fast food diet. Whoever he selects will be one clogged heartbeat away from the presidency. So who will Trump choose?
To answer this, The Daily Beast turned to John Frank Levey, a top Hollywood casting director. Levey has four Emmys—two for his work on ER and two for his work on The West Wing, which means he has actual experience casting a Vice President. So we asked Levey to run through the leading candidates based on how the pair would look like on TV… and which would be the most “central casting” option in 2024.
To Levey, the most important thing in good casting is avoiding redundancy. “You want to get a balance, a differentiation,” he said during a phone interview. “In my recent memoir Right For the Role, I talk about how you cast a pilot the same way you’d balance a mobile. So if you have George Clooney on one end of the spectrum, then you would need to counterbalance his rakish sense of humor with Anthony Edwards’ reliability and solidness. And then you would balance Noah Wyle’s innocence with the kind of arrogance and seriousness of Peter Benton played by Eriq LaSalle. And then, of course, you'd have to balance all that male energy with a sort of down home regular gal of Sherry Stringfield and a slightly more exotic and complex Julianna Margulies. No one of those six people infringes on the territory of the others and you get a whole spectrum of human experience.”
Levey provided the following observations on Trump’s reported VP list… and a few others.
The top central casting candidates
J. D. VANCE, Senator, Ohio
TOM COTTON, Senator, Arkansas
“I think Vance is a very viable, central casting choice. The Midwest and Ohio is obviously a very important state in terms of the Electoral College. But also, he has that very calming, everyman vibe. And then when you add the obvious inference of intelligence that an Ivy League-educated person carries with them, and he's attractive and seems like a decent fella. That’s an important quality to differentiate and balance the manic lunacy of his potential boss.
Vance and Cotton are both standard, unimaginative, low-risk choices. That's not my style of casting, but I think it might be appropriate casting in this environment.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Vance ends up shaving. In the tradition of the New York Yankees, facial hair is against the rules. I think his potential future boss will insist upon it.”
The short list
MARCO RUBIO, Senator, Florida
“Obviously, Rubio has his ethnicity as an advantage which would certainly play. And he has the experience of being a United States Senator so he knows how to behave. But I think he would have to try to find a way to accentuate his universal intelligence, rather than identity politics. If he leans into his Cuban-ness and Florida-ness that would be a mistake. He has to appeal to the white racists who are part of the base. You’d also have to eliminate all of Rubio’s past rhetoric about Trump to be accepted as Trump’s partner. Although that doesn't seem to matter much.”
ELISE STEFANIK, Representative, NY
“I certainly see her gender as an advantage and her regular-gal quality would play well. Some advisors might see her age as an asset, but I’d be concerned with her making Trump look old. It reminds me of when we cast Noah Wyle on the pilot of ER, we didn’t want him to come across like Doogie Howser and so we explained that we wanted his youth, but we also wanted to make sure that he was credible as a doctor. So for her ‘callbacks,’ my advice would be, ‘Don’t accentuate your youthful energy—in the way you dress, the way you present yourself. Get a serious demeanor since you’d be a heartbeat away from the presidency.’”
TIM SCOTT, Senator, South Carolina
“Scott satisfies the look, but he’s an empty vessel. In some ways, he is central casting since central casting is all about facade. For him, a lack of substance may well be an asset. I think he could make the older white guy feel hipper—and older white guys like me need all the help we can get in the hip department.
Still, I’m not sure Trump would be comfortable with a Black man as a running mate and that might tip the scales toward Rubio.”
DOUG BURGUM, Governor, North Dakota
“Again, in casting, you want to avoid redundancy and he’s just another billionaire with a hot wife. Still, Burgum is shorter than Trump, which might make Trump feel good in the ultimate penis measuring contest.”
BEN CARSON
“Carson is redundant with Trump in two crucial ways—his age and association with the first term.”
BYRON DONALDS, Representative, Florida
“Donalds was born in one of the boroughs and now lives in Florida which gives the ticket a glaring lack of geographic diversity.”
Killed her chances
KRISTI NOEM, Governor, South Dakota
“Noem would be an absolutely unacceptable candidate as a result of shooting her dog. And if she were to be the vice president, she should dress as Annie Oakley at all times.”
The wildcard
NIKKI HALEY
“I think Haley would be the most beneficial candidate for the vice presidency since others would be either redundant or too bland to make any impression at all. Also, if Trump selected her, it would sell the idea that his rivals can become his partners. Conflict can be a good thing. It’s an important part of drama and therefore an important part of casting.
I would think that would set up an opportunity for there to be internal arguments in the Oval Office about policy. Trump and Haley are different. They have different perspectives. They’re from different generations. I think far and away she’d be the most interesting ‘television vice president’ for ‘the television version of Donald Trump.’ And, by the way, that is the only version.”
The verdict
“Central casting to me means ‘on the nose.’ which is not always the best casting. Vance is the safest choice and Haley is the choice that I would advocate for with my showrunner.”
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