Creation and Development
Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing, originally wrote Josh Lyman with long-time friend Bradley Whitford in mind. An early draft of the pilot script, dated February 6, 1998, describes Josh as being aged 38 and "a highly regarded brain." After reading the script, Whitford says he loved the character immediately and "desperately wanted" the part. While his audition impressed the show's executive producers, with Sorkin describing it as "simply the best audition for anything I'd ever seen," Warner Brothers casting director John Levey was not convinced Whitford had enough sex appeal to play a lead character and executive producer Thomas Schlamme was concerned that he did not have enough depth to carry off the more dramatic scenes. After a second audition, Whitford was offered the role of Sam Seaborn. Whitford called Sorkin for help. "I just said, 'Aaron, I just feel this very strongly. This isn't about me wanting a job. This is the only time in my life I will play this card. I am this guy; I am not the other guy.'" Sorkin was impressed, and soon after Whitford was cast as Josh. In the very early episodes of the series, Josh was portrayed as overly tough and outspoken, but had mellowed by the end of season one, becoming more eager and simplistic in his personal demeanor, even switching places with Toby as the "hotheaded" one, as well as becoming much more markedly disorganized.
In researching for the role, Whitford says he found former Clinton communications director George Stephanopoulos's book All Too Human very helpful, "just because it gave a sense of the sort of smell and the texture and the level of intimacy with the president, which I was just unaware of."
Josh shares his name with a character in the Garry Trudeau cartoon strip Doonesbury, a White House deputy cabinet liaison encountered by Doonesbury regular Joanie Caucus. A framed copy of a Doonesbury strip hangs in Josh's office. The character is said to be based in part on Rahm Emanuel, although executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell denies this claim. In the season 1 episode, 'Mandatory Minimums', Josh is called "Rambo" by one of the staff after an intense telephone conversation.
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