Politics and The Film Industry
Fair weather friends? One and the same? Cut from the same cloth?
I say yes, yes, yes!
Politics and the film industry have more in common than most people realize or how could former actor and SAG president, Ronald Reagan (1947 to 1952, 1959 to 1960) so seamlessly segue to the gig of governor of California and, subsequently, President of The United States? How could Reagan have modulated his 1980s threats to The Soviet Union as though on a sound stage and not on a world stage if he wasn’t a trained actor? Anybody remember that speech? The infamous “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” directive?
The idea of optics and images are crucial to both industries. Politicians make the most of lighting, of dramatic soliloquies to express their position, of the right visuals to make themselves the chosen candidate and leader, based on what our preconceived notions are of what our representatives should look like. The diminutive Michael Dukakis didn’t stand a chance against Bush senior for president when he agreed to wear a helmet and ride in a tank. The feedback in the media was that he looked like Snoopy supporting the troops. A young Al Gore was gorgeous and featured on a horse in his younger years to support his father’s campaigns. His rugged handsomeness helped in both The White House and The Oscars years later when he took to producing…
I had thought I would become a political strategist when I was at UCLA. Not the kind Shonda Rhimes dreamt up in her literal black and white Washington drama, Scandal. (The leads were not only involved in an interracial adulterous affair, but the costume department emphasized that with the main character Olivia Pope’s monotone wardrobe of a lot of black and white. Symbolic?) I was very young when I thought to join Jerry Brown’s campaign for president in 1991. I was still a teenager and I appreciated his politics. Plus, the thought that he was cool enough to once date, but always befriend songbird, Linda Ronstadt didn’t hurt his street cred. He didn’t get the nomination, even though he did great things for California. Sadly, we were “trumped” by a governor from Arkansas who, while not a trained actor but rather a Rhodes Scholar with a syrupy way of speaking, could “act” as though he was part of a touring Shakespearean company. How else did he look down the lens of a camera, finger wagging that he didn’t “have sexual relations with that woman”? This near indictment remains a mystery to my mind. They should have thrown the book at him (his, Hilary’s, that grating Huma Abedin’s) for how he destroyed the young intern Monica Lewinsky’s life when he was supposed to be our President…
There are great movies that spoof the political process, two from the 90s that come to mind? Wag The Dog and Speechless. Primary Colors was a bit much for me (and also based on The Clintons). And let’s not forget Arnold Schwarzenegger went from acting on screen as Danny Devito’s unlikely twin to being George Bush Sr’s Chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, a position he followed up with a stint as Governor of California. All the while married to a Kennedy! With bulging biceps to boot!
When I finally eschewed a career in politics and three years of law school in favor of an MFA in Screenwriting (UCLA), I realized just how similar the two industries are. I mean never even serving in student government in high school, Trump still earned the Republican Party nomination TWICE. That mere fact makes my head spin. Where did he cut his teeth in politics? On his reality show, The Apprentice, thanks to a memorable tag line: “You’re fired?”
It is a bumpy ride to the November elections, but I was honored to meet one of the candidates this morning. I like the optics of a Kennedy in The White House again, the world over still remembers JFK as the youthful ideal Americans cherished before he was gunned down in 1963. Spun correctly, a good political strategist would convince Americans and the rest of the world that this was the return to Camelot, irrespective of Mr. Kennedy’s views, which some suggest are polarizing. I like him. I also like the optics of a beautiful and talented first lady in thespian, Cheryl Hines. I think she’s funny and personable in a way that Mrs. Trump is statuesque and seemingly stand offish (that might just be a cultural thing or the optics, I could be reading her completely wrong).
I also appreciate that Mrs. RFK’s first husband was my first manager in Hollywood, Paul Young. He was mentored by Variety’s Peter Bart the same way I was by screenwriter, Ron Bass, and we were young and creatively ambitious at the same time and on the same page. (Didn’t help me that he was more invested in breaking Anthony Anderson’s career than mine back in the day or that I was completely dependent on his expertise and wit to book my gigs, but that’s a story for another time…) I love the idea of thespians in The White House just like I loved watching the Obama girls grow up and now I can look forward to watching something Malia Obama potentially wrote as she leads the charge of a young generation of female screenwriters in Hollywood. Bet she has a TON of interesting script ideas as the former first daughter. Wait, didn’t they already make that movie?
Politics and the film industry…hard to ascertain where one starts and the other is nominated, er, ends…But, I’m there for it all in its Technicolor glory.