Inside The American President: White House Set Secrets, Hidden Cameos, and Casting Shakeups

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Michael Douglas stars as a widower president who falls for Annette Bening’s hard-charging environmental lobbyist in the 1995 political rom-com “The American President” — which serves as a blueprint for writer Aaron Sorkin’s long-running TV series “The West Wing”

Rob Reiner directed the star-studded cast that includes Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, Richard Dreyfuss, John Mahoney, Wendie Malick and David Paymer.

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Robert Redford was originally set to play President Andrew Shepherd but dropped the project after a falling-out with Reiner. Redford remained on board as a producer.

In the original screenplay, Shepherd was written as a former Special Ops agent, so Reiner talked about the role with action stars like Bruce Willis and Steven Seagal.

Redford had his sights set on Emma Thompson as his leading lady. Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer were also considered before “The Grifters” star Bening landed the role of Sydney Ellen Wade.

Before filming started, Fox was still keeping his Parkinson’s battle a secret. He was terrified that he’d lose his role as Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy if the movie’s medical team discovered it during routine fitness screenings.

Luckily for Fox and the rest of us, his medication was able to control his shaky left hand. His character was based on a real White House staffer who worked for President Bill Clinton — advisor and current TV host George Stephanopoulos.

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The White House sets are highly on point as President Clinton gave cast and the design team permission to visit five times. But Camp David is off limits to the public and media, so the designers had to improvise and create the set based on imagination and personal photographs snapped from the era of President Richard Nixon.

In addition, Clinton allowed Reiner to follow him around for two days to get an idea of a president’s daily activities.

The Oval Office set was built originally for the 1993 film “Dave” and was then used for “The West Wing.” Actress Anna Deavere Smith is an actress who worked on all three productions.

The same set also appears in the films “Nixon” and “Independence Day.”

In addition to Smith, other actors who appear in “The American President” and also play key roles on “The West Wing” include Sheen as President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet and Joshua Malina as communications director turned senator Will Bailey.

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At one point, Shepherd asks Sydney to call him back at 456-1414 — the real number of the White House switchboard with the area code 202. Sorkin also uses it on “The West Wing.” “The American President” became one of those rare PG-13 films to use the f-word three times, probably because it was never used in a sexual context.

In penning the film, Sorkin locked himself into a room at the Four Seasons hotel in L.A. for months and ended up with a massive 385-page script that he had to trim down to around the usual 120 pages.

He admits that his long hours of writing resulted in a heavy cocaine habit.

“I was the kind of addict who was functional,” he confides. “I was actually writing good material. But I didn’t see people or talk to people. I’d fax my pages over to Rob at 7 a.m. and after we’d talked about it, I’d close the curtains and start writing again.”

Sorkin’s research and film script inspired the TV hits “The West Wing” and “Sports Night.” In the film, Sorkin makes a cameo appearance, credited as “Aide in Bar.”

At the box office, the movie grossed $107.9 million against a budget of $62 million. “The American President” earned one Oscar nomination, for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score, but Marc Shaiman lost out to “Pocahontas.”