Movie presidents are raised as something held for Apex Mountain; it is unclear whether the Mount Rushmore allows TV or only movies.
If movies only, the four most important movie presidents are Michael Douglas in The American President, Kevin Klein in Dave and Pullman in Independence Day, with the fourth spot wide open; for this participant it is Jeff Bridges in The Contender, who seemed very presidential.
Others might put Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact in the fourth spot.
Asked for a fourth, a special dispensation for Jed Bartlet from The West Wing is requested. — Chris Ryan
TV presidents are ruled out for this list; Haysbert from 24 and Bartlet are said to have strong cases for a TV Rushmore.
Film portrayals of Kennedy are not worth including; fictional presidents work better.
A totally different four: the Independence Day president, Harrison Ford in Air Force One because a president who can fight is preferred, Jamie Fox in White House Down, and Morgan Freeman. — Shea Serrano
Kevin Klein in Dave redid a budget and healed America; since a movie president appears only when something bad is happening, the preference is for one who can handle himself.
White House Down, seen only once, is said to be better and sillier than remembered; Olympus Has Fallen is preferred by one participant.

Casting What-Ifs

Kevin Spacey as the president; Ally Walker for Margaret Colin's role; Jada Pinkett for Vivica Fox's role; Matthew Perry as Jimmy Wilder

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 00:56:39Read transcript

Kevin Spacey was supposed to be the president, but Fox refused because he was not a big enough star; the part was written for a Bill Pullman type.
Relief is expressed that Spacey is not the president in this movie.
Ally Walker was supposed to play Margaret Colin's character; Colin jokingly told a casting assistant she was 22, it was written down, and she nearly lost the part.
Jada Pinkett was supposed to have the Vivica Fox role but had a Nutty Professor conflict, and ended up with Will Smith anyway.
Matthew Perry was reportedly offered Captain Jimmy Wilder and pulled out, though this could not be confirmed; a Chandler version is imagined.
The end-of-the-world song was originally supposed to be Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World.
There were fewer casting what-ifs than expected because they knew who they wanted.

Recasting Couch

Christopher Lloyd, Dennis Hopper or Al Pacino as the Area 51 doctor; Demi Moore or Sharon Stone for Mary McDonnell's role; Martin Lawrence for Connick

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:02:22Read transcript

Option two: the wacky Area 51 doctor should be a real famous person, such as Christopher Lloyd as a Doc Brown wink or Dennis Hopper.
Pacino is suggested for two scenes at $10 million, with an impression.
Option one: never having been a Mary McDonnell person (after an Amy Adams comparison), Demi Moore is wanted for four scenes, and her death would be more shocking.
A defense: McDonnell is good in John Sails movies.
For a three-day role, go big; Sharon Stone is suggested and would have been an unexpected death.
Returning to recasting, Connick could be swapped for Martin Lawrence if the seat just needs a funny guy.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Stargate origin; military withdrawal; model effects; Oscar-nominee game; Clinton screening; VHS campaign; improvisation; Loggia's Airplane mix-up

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 01:05:24Read transcript

The idea came while Emmerich promoted Stargate: asked about aliens, he imagined waking to a 15-mile-wide spaceship and told Devlin it was their next movie.
The U.S. military was originally involved and bowed out, apparently over Area 51.
There were 3,000-plus effects shots, with models such as a 10-by-5-foot White House blown up; the White House interior set was reused from The American President and Nixon.
In a game naming the six Oscar nominees in the cast, Will Smith and Pullman are named first. — Shea Serrano
Goldblum and then Judd Hirsch are named, winning the game; Loggia, Mary McDonnell and Randy Quaid are the others. — Chris Ryan
A White House screening for Bill Clinton, who loved it, and an oral-history anecdote about Vivica Fox meeting him.
A six-week, $30 million VHS campaign made it the best-selling live-action video ever.
Most scenes with Goldblum and Judd Hirsch or Will Smith were improvised, and 70 mock news broadcasts were made.
Robert Loggia was told to watch Airplane instead of Airport, thought they were secretly making a spoof and refused to leave his trailer.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

What America looks like afterward; should Margaret Colin's character end up with Pullman; did the movie invent computer viruses; did Randy Quaid become his character

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:15:12Read transcript

The big unanswerable question: what is left to be president of afterward, and how fast can America be propped up again.
With three major cities lost, Dallas or Chicago might become the alpha city, Chicago might be upset it got no ship, and the Dallas Cowboys come out unscathed.
Should Margaret Colin's character have ended up with Pullman rather than Goldblum and his weird dad?
Did this movie invent computer viruses? Probably not; popularized them, maybe.
Did Randy Quaid become the character in real life, with method acting making something snap? The performance is floated as the trigger.
No other unanswerable questions are offered.

Picking Nits

The strip joint staying open; happy reactions to the invasion; Manhattan-to-Washington travel time

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:16:21Read transcript

The strip joint stays open during the invasion; it is assumed everything would close and most people would want to be with family.
Everyone reacting happily to the alien arrival is explained by that pop-culture take-me-to-your-leader moment.
No nits at all: everything lined up perfectly, which is agreed as pretty solid. — Shea Serrano
It all made sense, except Judd Hirsch and Goldblum getting from Manhattan into the White House within six hours despite apocalyptic I-95 traffic. — Chris Ryan
An alternate script where they die on the highway is joked about.
The last-second squeeze out of the mothership was an early example of the move, the same as the Bad Boys ending.