Maybe you have to actually win a presidential election before actor Dennis Quaid will play you in a movie.
While he’s President Clinton in an upcoming flick and previously played a George W. Bush-type character, Quaid revealed at the National Press Club on Monday that he’s less excited about bloggers’ suggestions that he’d make one heck of a John Edwards.
When Press Club President Alan Bjerga asked Quaid about it, Quaid tried not to respond.
“That concludes my time …” the actor said, laughing and clacking the Press Club gavel off the podium.
“Call my agent” was his final answer.
“I can’t tell you what it feels like to have been impromptuly played by Dennis Quaid, I’ll give you my feedback,” Bjerga said, taking control of the podium.
Quaid talked patient safety, a cause he has taken up since his twins were given an almost-fatal overdose of Heparin in 2007. (They’re doing great now, he reported).
“I’m an actor, if I make a mistake I have take two, or three, or four, or 37, and believe me I’ve been there, but if a caretaker makes a mistake it could mean somebody’s life,” he said, advocating “shovel ready” suggestions like checklists to ensure patients are getting the right care.
He also talked shop. He’s playing Clinton in a new Peter Morgan movie entitled “A Special Relationship.”
“I learned that I never really want to go into politics,” he said, adding that he found playing Clinton a challenge. “I actually spent a weekend in the White House with him 10 years ago, I got to know him a little bit. Smartest guy I ever met,” he said.
