Damian Lewis to play crack-smoking Toronto mayor Rob Ford in new movie

By Katie Rife | April 10, 2018 | 5:25pm

Aux Features Film

Actors often undergo intense physical transformations for a role—take Christian Bale, whose recent weight gain for a role as Dick Cheney is just the latest in a series of extreme weight fluctuations he’s experienced over the years. But even for a well-paid Hollywood actor, taking on the hard-partying lifestyle of ex-Toronto mayor Rob Ford—you remember, the one who was caught smoking crack on video while he was in office?—for a role may be too great of an ask. (Ford, as you may also recall, died very young of a rare form of cancer.)

That’s presumably why Homeland’s Damian Lewis is donning a prosthetic for his role as Ford in an upcoming drama film called Run This Town, which is currently shooting in Toronto. Not a whole lot is known about the film beyond Lewis’ role as Ford, and that it centers around a fictional reporter played by Ben Platt who “attempts to expose a scandal involving a politician who doesn’t play by the rules.” That’s certainly one way to put it.