Aaron Eckhart to Star in Action Thriller ‘Raider’

Aaron Eckhart as President Benjamin Asher in ‘London Has Fallen’. Photo: Focus Features.

Preview:

Aaron Eckhart is playing the US President in ‘Raider’.
He’ll discover a dark conspiracy.
‘Con Air’s Simon West is directing.

While Aaron Eckhart has played the U.S. President a few times in the past –– most notably in ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ and ‘London Has Fallen’ and in TV series ‘The First Lady’ (that one was real-life leader Gerald Ford) –– but he’s clearly not finished working in fictional White Houses.

He’s now locked in the role of an unnamed Commander in Chief in new action thriller ‘Raider’.

What’s the story of ‘Raider’?

(L to R) Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart in ‘Olympus Has Fallen.’ Photo: Millennium Films.

Written by ‘Miranda’s Victim’ scripter J. Craig Stiles, ‘Raider’ tells the story of a president, sworn in after a landslide victory, who discovers that the White House has been controlled by an elite shadow organization for decades.

Refusing to bow to their demands or comply with the head of the Secret Service (Danny Huston), the president works to unravel a series of cryptic messages left by his predecessors hoping they are the key to freeing his family and the country from dark forces.

Here’s what producer Steve Lee Jones said about the casting:

“Our lead is a classy and honorable man who puts country first, despite the risks and impossible odds. When he realizes what’s at stake, he simply says, ‘No.’ We’re very excited to be working with Aaron again and I can’t imagine a better fit than Simon West to bring this pulse-pounding thriller home in spades.”

Fellow producer Matthew Shreder compared the movie to ‘Air Force One’ and ‘The Da Vinci Code’. This is what he said about Eckhart:

“People have come to love seeing Aaron take control, and this elevates that to an entirely new level.”

Who is making ‘Raider’?

(L to R) Nicolas Cage and John Malkovich in ‘Con Air’. Photo: Touchstone Pictures.

‘Raider’ has engaged the services of a filmmaker who has proved he can handle action in the past: Simon West, who directed ‘Con Air’ and ‘The Expendables 2’, will be putting Eckhart through his paces for the new movie.

The movie is scheduled to start shooting this fall in Spain.

Possibly our biggest question is whether Eckhart’s character will do well without ‘Olympus/London Has Fallen’s Gerard Butler to watch his back. We know Eckhart can take care of himself, so we have hope.

When will ‘Raider’ be in theaters?

Bee Holder Productions and Concourse Media are producing this one (with Concourse handling sales of the film at the Cannes Market), but with no distribution deals in place, there is no word on when the movie will be in theaters.