Bush Movie Director endorses Obama. What? Explain…

Oliver Stone and I have one thing in common. We are the only two directors to have made a film about a sitting Administration. Like still in Office. Perhaps gasping for breath, as the air outside grows thick with scorn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed W. It is both thought provoking and fun. Every voter should see it. As for my movie, read on and decide…

For six months after I had made DC 9/11: TIME OF CRISIS my agents could not get me a meeting.  “I’m not hiring the guy that made the Bush movie” was one comment. “I can’t forgive you for helping Bush get a second term!” was another.  My name became Leni Reifenstall on the list of cable movie directors, guilty of making TRIUMPH OF THE SWILL. This is ironic, given my life long leftist voting record.

When the then President of Showtime Jerry Offsay calls you late at night and asks you to take over a movie shooting in less than 2 weeks, you say yes. Even if not a word of the script may be changed; because that was the deal Showtime had to make when acquiring the project, even so, you say yes. You don’t step aside when a man who green lit 4 of your pictures comes to you with a problem.

The docudrama script was clearly intended to show how a well informed, articulate President took charge of Government and rallied the people in an unprecedented crisis. Each scene was factually based, but shaped to emphasize the President’s analytical powers and his off-the-cuff eloquence. We have never seen such a whip smart Bush before or since.

Despite the well researched depiction of real events, the underlying purpose of DC 9/11: TIME OF CRISIS was to polish the image of the President 14 months before the next election J Hoberman’s insightful review, linked here, identified the category of Propaganda tool: Stalinist “Father Of Our Nation” Myth Movie.

But I believe Propaganda is a two edged sword. It often reveals more about the Propagandists than they realize. With 20/20 hindsight, they might regret some of the hubris  liberally sprinkled throughout.

So, Rumsfeld actually said at a Pentagon breakfast on the morning of the attacks: “Something’s coming, something big…”

Bush actually said: “This will decidedly not be another Vietnam.”

Hmm, I wondered, as I read the script over and over: do they really want to be on record as saying some of these things? In a way, the film is like a Project for the New American Century Infomercial, as approved by Karl Rove. No left wing media filter this time, folks, this is the straight skinny, straight from Headquarters. I knew I was directing a film that would be vilified by all except right wing media, yet, with the passage of time, have historical value as an authentic example of Neo Con thought, styled as advocate docudrama.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The invasion of Iraq started during the shoot. It was a little surreal to  enter my Toronto  hotel room after 14 hours of filming characters planning the Iraq war, then switch on CNN and watch those plans being carried out. Don’t they realize this will not be as easy as they claim, I wondered.

The cast, almost all Lefties, expressed similar disbelief, but like me, had a duty to honor the contract we signed to shoot the script as written. I encouraged each of them to find tone and quirks that could operate beneath the surface of the dialogue. I think Timothy Bottoms convincingly captured the Bush swagger. John Cunningham made the patronizing Rumsfeld a truly scary guy. I supported Greg Itzen’s smoothly conceited Ashcroft by shooting a key speech in low wide angle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karl Rove’s Machiavellian instincts are clearly visible in Alan Royal’s cunning interpretation. No disrespect to W.’s wonderful Thandie Newton, but I prefer Penny Johnson Jerald’s impersonation of Condi. Though in W. I must acknowledge that Thandie’s first appearance in angle, lighting and voice mimicry is a bulls eye, producing an audible gasp from the  audience I saw it with.

 

None of our subtle embellishments caused a stir among The Watchers back at Party HQ. My staging of a Bush cabinet meeting with the President striding back and forth along the table issuing assignments to his key lieutenants like a brigade commander was ruled a good choice, not ironic hyperbole. But adjustments were ordered from time to time. On day 2, I had allowed Bush to be too angry in a frustrated outburst on Air Force One. “Brian, the President would not lose control like that…” I had to re-shoot that close up on our last day. The eagle eyed will notice Timothy Bottoms has gained a little weight between wide shot and close up.

 

There was a monumental weight of responsibility on Timothy’s shoulders every day of the shoot, but he always carried out the brief with dedication and expertise On that last day the inner liberal Tim had to bust out. On the final take of the scene in the Marine One set, while the camera was still rolling, he jumped onto the window seat, pulled down his pants and mooned the world while uttering a derisive stream of Bushisms relating to international consensus, if my memory serves. The Watchers were evidently not Watching that last day, but I think those tapes have since been destroyed.

Sidebar:  During the shoot, and for months afterwards, my home phone would occasionally make clicking sounds during calls. A number of times during post, I would switch on my computer and find my email sorted in a random order. Make of that what you will.

 

 

Timothy Bottoms’ performance within the straight jacket of a role built from lego blocks of political exposition is nuanced and masterful. He deserved an Emmy nomination but politics often trumps professionalism in the awards game. Brolin’s W. is equally masterful in a broader style. And he will get an Oscar nomination.

 

The battle I most regret losing in the editing process was not being allowed to reflect the length of time Bush continued to read to the school children after receiving word of the crash into the second tower. I wanted to superimpose a title to that effect. The word came down from on high. Absolutely not. The issue was ultimately glossed over by a dissolve. Just about every scene in the film has an issue or spin that divides Left and Right. I hope that the perspective of the last 5 years gives the film a new flavor, a MONSTER’S BALL of ideologues, whose pronouncements now drip with dramatic irony. Erik Lindegaard’s recent article linked here - DC 9/11 is the new Reefer Madness!  - hits the nail on the head. So I wish my film a long and fruitful autopsy. Here’s my concept for the sequel:

I was, at the time of DC 9/11: TIME OF CRISIS, a political quietist. In Australia, where voting is compulsory - as it should be everywhere - I would see graffiti at election time: Don’t vote, it only encourages them. After the Labor government of Gough Whitlam was subverted in 1975 by a paper coup, much as the 2000 election was in America, I had come to the cynical belief that democracy was just political theatre, designed to make us feel we have a hand in how our lives are run, while in fact the major power blocks behind the scenes that fund the political candidates to put on this charade, do much as they please with the nation’s resources Political activism, while inwardly satisfying, was ultimately futile. And now, unpatriotic, as defined by our Rulers Who Know Best.

Why have I changed my mind? Two words. Barack Obama. Here’s an inspiring man with a clearly brilliant mind who could actually rally the country at a time of national crisis, and more importantly, keep it rallied. Obama showed he could come from nowhere, outfox Karl Rove’s dirty tricks (or Enhanced Election Techniques to reflect this Administration’s flair for Orwellian New Speak), and now be on the brink - we pray - of a two term Presidency that could staunch America’s wounds and transform the way government operates. Democracy works. Activism works. If we all participate.