3. President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) in White House Down (2013)
Jamie Foxx’s President Sawyer, from Roland Emmerich’s witty action-thriller White House Down, is an unsubtle Barack Obama analog, down to a minor—but circa 2013, timely—subplot involving the withdrawal of troops in the Middle East. But Obama never wore Jordans, not during his time in office, anyway. Nor did the 44th president aim a rocket launcher at the front gate of the White House. That’s all Sawyer, an eloquent statesman who takes questions from an 11-year-old YouTuber like she’s Anderson Cooper. While a sweaty Channing Tatum takes charge in most of the action in White House Down, Foxx isn’t afraid to get his presidential hands dirty.
