Actor Bill Pullman knows something about playing the president. His character, President Thomas Whitmore, donned a flight suit and helped the U.S. fight the aliens in the 1996 summer blockbuster "Independence Day." "You don't realize until long afterward that other real-life presidents would emulate that moment," Pullman noted Wednesday at the National Press Club, referencing George W. Bush's landing on the USS Lincoln. Pullman was joined by producers and cast members of the new NBC comedy "1600 Penn," in which the actor once again leads the executive branch as President Dale Gilchrist, but this time it's his family that's the problem.
On hand were Jenna Elfman, playing Pullman's bubbly second wife, Martha MacIsaac, who plays his pregnant daughter, and Josh Gad, whose first-son character screams "Animal House." "I actually just met Jenna [Bush], she's lovely, and now I know how to play her for season two," Gad laughed. "I based my work entirely on Malia [Obama] up until now."
The cast also promised the audience would find out more about the family's ascent to the White House in future episodes. "You'll also see how killing all the aliens changed him," Gad inserted. "And how rebuilding the White House really took a lot."
