Sam Rockwell pulled off a convincing President George W. Bush in last year's award-winning film Vice. Well, at least in terms of looks and inflection. Conservative critics had plenty to sneer at in terms of how the actor interpreted 43's personality and intellect. Yet, as you can hear in the trailer, he seems to have at least accurately adopted Bush's typical southern drawl.
Rockwell's performance made a recent family tree discovery all the more intriguing. Ancestry.com was curious, so they did some research to see if the actor was actually related to President Bush. Imagine their surprise when they found out the two are long distance cousins. Rockwell discussed the surprising discovery in a recent appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon."
Their connection dates back to the 17th century with a man named Jacob Decker, who lived from 1671 to 1761. That makes them eighth cousins once removed."According to Ancestry, Decker and his wife Anna Kortregt were Dutch settlers who lived in Ulster, New York. They were married in 1695 and had 11 children. That makes Decker the seventh great-grandfather of Rockwell and the eighth great-grandfather of Bush," People reported.
"Dude you basically played your cousin in a movie," Fallon quipped.
Judging by Rockwell's reaction and body language, he wasn't exactly thrilled by the Ancestry dig. Yet, the actor mused that it was his dad who would be most offended by the news.
"That would put my dad in a home," Rockwell said. "Because he's a conscientious objector. And he's a Bernie Sanders fanatic and a union organizer. You know, the most liberal guy, my father."
We know Christian Bale didn't have an affinity for his character either. He called Vice President Cheney "Satan" in front of millions of viewers when accepting the Golden Globe for Best Actor. He also suggested the former VP was a "charisma-free a**hole."
At least he can take comfort in the fact they are probably not related.