Perhaps he's taking a cue from Jesse Eisenberg's playbook. Fresh off his turn as a financial wunderkind/expert motorcyclist in Oliver Stone's Wall Street pseudo-sequel, Shia LaBeouf is now "very interested" in playing the young incarnation of Bush's architect, Karl Rove. The still-in-development film project, which is currently titled "College Republicans," traces the exploits of undergraduate Rove as he vies to become the "next chief campus conservative under the guidance of one Lee Atwater, who's his campaign manager." The Los Angeles Times' Steven Zeitchik, who published the rumor, notes that although the film has no director attached (Richard Linklater's name is being floated), LaBeouf "is said to be among the actors who wants in."

While it may be a savvy career move for the man often described as "Tom Hanks Jr.," it still makes less sense than, say, Mike Meyers playing Pepé Le Pew.

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Erik Hayden