14 Best Fictional Movie Presidents

11. Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) - Dr Strangelove

lloyd bridges hot shots
Columbia Pictures

The bitingly satiric Cold War classic from Stanley Kubrick saw Sellers on virtuoso form. Playing three characters including the eponymous Strangelove along with the Adlai Stevenson-inspired President Muffley.

Indecisive and seemingly out of his depth, Muffley is a President having something of a hard time facing up to the very real threat of nuclear Armageddon. As the crisis worsens so the nuggets of advice grow ever more absurd – and horrific. With Sellers sublime Jeckyll and Hyde like turn as the two men at the centre of it all, simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.

And that classic line:

“You can’t fight in here. This is the war room!”

Contributor
Contributor

Freelance writer, full-time father, part-time hat wearer. Specialising in film and TV and prone to referencing Douglas Adams a little too often.