Back in February, it was announced that Oprah Winfrey would join the cast of an upcoming film about the life of Eugene Allen, a White House butler who served eight presidents over the span of a 34-year White House career. Forest Whitaker will play Allen in The Butler, the new project by Precious director Lee Daniels, which is based on a 2008 profile of Allen by The Washington Post. (Winfrey will play Allen’s wife.)

The top billing seems promising enough, but after the latest casting announcement, this movie seems a little less assured. A film about a man who spent his life doting on U.S. presidents and their families requires casting people to play those presidents and their spouses. And in the names announced today, it appears Daniels swung for the fences in attaching big-name talent to The Butler, but there’s a pretty glaring catch:

These casting choices make no sense! Mathew McConaughey, lean, drawling Texan as the ruddy, brahmin John F. Kennedy? Minka Kelly, the bland star of Friday Night Lights as Jacqueline Kennedy? John Cusack as Richard Nixon? Alan Rickman—Hans freaking Gruber!—as Ronald Reagan?

This is either the greatest cast ever assembled for a White House movie, or a guaranteed clusterfuck. Maybe both. Browse the gallery for more curious portrayals.