The First Lady: Derek Cecil Cast as Donald Rumsfeld in Showtime Series

Published Mar 10, 2021

Jeff Sneider is the Senior Film Reporter at Collider, where he breaks film and television news and curates the Up-and-Comer of the Month column in addition to hosting The Sneider Cut podcast and the awards-themed series For Your Consideration with Scott Mantz and Perri Nemiroff. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Jeff started his career at Ain't It Cool News before moving to Los Angeles to write for Variety and later, TheWrap and Mashable. Jeff also served as Editor in Chief of The Tracking Board and has contributed to MTV Movies Blog, Hollywood Life magazine, Washington Square News and the Colorado Springs Independent. His Oscar picks have appeared on the LA Times' Envelope site, and he agrees with screenwriter William Goldman who famously said of Hollywood, "nobody knows anything." Jeff hails from Needham, Massachusetts and has never eaten a salad. He can be found on Twitter, Instagram, Cameo and Blogspot by searching his nom de plume @TheInSneider.

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Derek Cecil is heading back to the White House after playing Seth Grayson on Netflix'sHouse of Cards, as he has been cast asDonald Rumsfeld in Showtime's upcoming anthology series The First Lady.

The series is described as a revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House. The first season of the show aims to peel back the curtain on the personal and political lives of a trio of unique, inspiring women who did our country proud in serving as First Lady --Eleanor Roosevelt,Betty Ford andMichelle Obama, who will be played by Emmy winnerGillian Anderson, Golden Globe winnerMichelle Pfeiffer and Oscar winnerViola Davis, respectively.

Cecil will recur on the series as a much younger Rumsfeld, back when the former congressman first served as Secretary of Defense under Gerald Ford, who will be played by Aaron Eckhart. Meanwhile, Dakota Fanning will play the Fords' only daughter,Susan Elizabeth Ford.

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The First Lady-- which is apparently just a working title -- will co-starO-T Fagbenle (Black Widow) asBarack Obama, whileLexi Underwood (Little Fires Everywhere) joined the cast earlier this week asMalia Obama. Additional guest stars includeJudy Greer as Betty Ford’s trusted confidante and social secretaryNancy Howe;Jayme Lawson(The Batman) as youngMichelle Obama;Kristine Froseth as young Betty Ford; andRhys Wakefield asDick Cheney.

Showtime and Lionsgate Television will produceThe First Lady, which Susanne Bier(The Night Manager) is attached to direct and executive produce alongside creator Aaron Cooley, as well asCathy Schulman of Welle Entertainment,Jeff Gaspin of Gaspin Media andBrad Kaplan of LINK Entertainment. Davis will also executive produce the series along withJulius Tennon andAndrew Wang of JuVee Productions.

Cecil is a classically trained theater actor who made a name for himself on TV shows such asThe Beat,Pasadena andPush, Nevada, though his more recent TV credits include HBO'sThe Outsider andTreme, Cinemax'sBanshee, and Showtime's ownBlack Monday. He earned a pair of SAG Award nominations as part of the stacked House of Cards ensemble, and his feature credits includePaul Haggis' thrillerThe Next Three Days, Jennifer Westfeldt's comedyFriends with Kids, and theJohn Lithgow-Blythe Danner indieThe Tomorrow Man, which premiered at Sundance in 2019. Cecil is represented by APA and One Entertainment.