Sometimes my brother and I argue about who from the casts of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel have the best careers. This makes me want to kill myself for being such a dire nerd. But one name that seems to never come up – and maybe it should – is Danny Strong. On Buffy Strong played one of the Trio, the season 6 nerd villains who caused Buffy Summers et al so much trouble. But post-Buffy he’s been marking out territory as a screenwriter.

Strong was the writer of the well-reviewed HBO movie Recount, about the 2000 presidential election. And now he’s moving on to the White House with The Butler for Sony. The Butler is based on the true story of Eugene Allen, a black butler in the White House who served a string of presidents from Truman to Reagan (we originally covered the story here). Strong is obviously being brought in for his perspective on the African-American condition.

Strong won a WGA award and got an Emmy nom for Recount, so it’ll be interesting to see what he does with The Butler. I’m hoping that him coming aboard means this won’t be some cheesy Forrest Gumpian bullshit.

via Variety