After a 15-month, Lost Ark-rivaling quest, the Motion Picture Association of America‘s search for a chairman-CEO has finally ended. The MPAA announced this week that five-term Connecticut senator and one-time presidential hopeful Christopher Dodd would take on the role.

Dodd didn’t sound a bit shaken when he told the L.A. Times that his years of cross-party work “putting together a financial reform bill and 50 percent of the healthcare bill” have adequately prepared him to wheel-and-deal among cut-throat movie execs, big challenges lie ahead for the former senator, whose only previous experience with Hollywood was a cameo in the 1993 Ivan Reitman movie Dave.

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Former M.P.A.A. chairman Jack Valenti

The Motion Picture Association of America is looking for a chairman, a role proving hard to fill. The search for what the New York Times describes as Hollywood’s “chief lobbyist in Washington” has been conducted for nearly a year by three studio chairmen and headhunting firms.

The new chairman would replace former Kansas congressman Dan Glickman who took the job from Jack Valenti. Valenti was the Association’s chairman for almost 40 years.

Among the names mentioned are Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D), who’s retiring from Congress; Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who is leaving that job; and former Hill & Knowlton executive Vickee Jordan Adams. She’s also the daughter of Vernon Jordan, former President Bill Clinton’s senior adviser.