BY JOHN HORN

Los Angeles Times

TELLURIDE, Colo.

Director Roger Michell said that if the "Ghostbusters" and "Groundhog Day" veteran didn't want to star as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he wouldn't make the movie at all, and Murray knew he would be playing someone so famous, as the actor put it, that "he's on the dime!"

Although the film has received mixed reviews, the 62-year-old Murray has attracted critical attention for his performance as FDR, including a Golden Globe nomination for lead actor in a comedy or musical, a category that includes Hugh Jackman from "Les Miserables" and Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook."

"Hyde Park" isn't the only Murray movie receiving award consideration. Wes Anderson's comedy "Moonrise Kingdom," in which Murray plays the father of a runaway girl, is a contender for the original screenplay Academy Award and a dark horse for the best picture Oscar shortlist.

Set on the eve of World War II, "Hyde Park on Hudson" focuses on the 32nd president's many romantic entanglements, most prominently his love affair with distant cousin Margaret "Daisy" Suckley (Laura Linney), just as King George VI (Samuel West) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) are coming to visit the president at his New York vacation compound.

As written by playwright Richard Nelson, the movie largely steers clear of global or even national politics. Instead, "Hyde Park" is chiefly concerned with FDR's juggling of so many women, including his wife, Eleanor (Olivia Williams). In one of the film's most striking scenes, the president's sexual relationship with Daisy commences with some unusual philandering in the front of the president's convertible.

In a late summer conversation at the Telluride Film Festival, Murray said he was attracted to the movie because it offered an unsentimental look at an unusual couple who, though not lonely, were clearly needy. "It's not necessarily romantic," the actor said. "But it is intimate. These are two people who need each other."