Aaron Eckhart joins 'Olympus Has Fallen': Thesp to play U.S. prez in Millennium Films' Gerard Butler starrer

After playing Gotham's district attorney, Aaron Eckhart is getting a promotion to commander in chief in Millennium Films' "Olympus Has Fallen." Pic stars Gerard Butler. Antoine Fuqua will helm from a script by first-time scribes Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt. Described as "Die Hard" in the White House, story follows a former Secret Service agent who becomes America's only hope when the White House is overtaken by terrorists. Butler and his manager Alan Siegel will produce with Millennium prexy Mark Gill, while Avi Lerner will exec produce with Trevor Short. Production is skedded to start in September. The pic is the one of two White House takeover films in the works with Sony's "White House Down" set to go into production soon as well. The CAA-repped Eckhart can be seen next in Radius-Weinstein Company's "The Expatriate."