Four scores and seven reels ago. The U.S. presidency through Hollywood films Dale Sherman
A very enlightening book about Hollywood’s depiction of the person behind the political leader. Some presidents inspired the directors more than others and surprisingly only two minor films have been made about Obama, mainly covering his love life and his adolescence. Some actors are ideal for the role, like Henry Fonda who starred in Young Mr. Lincoln by John Ford (1939) or Daniel Day-Lewis who portrayed Lincoln in 2012. He not only looked the part but gave an incredible performance in Spielberg’s Academy Award–winning movie. America lost faith in its leader in the 60s and Nixon turned out to be perfect film material. Anthony Hopkins stands out in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995), portraying a paranoid and insecure man. Sometimes the president is not even represented, as in Pakula’s film All the president’s men about Nixon’s Watergate scandal or in Stone’s excellent JFK about the Kennedy assassination. George W. Bush appeared more often in movies than Ford, Carter or Reagan, although not in a good light. The movies about Clinton are scarce and there are no fiction films about Biden yet. Dale Sherman made a thorough research about his subject, also including documentary films.
One film he couldn’t cover is this year’s fiction about Trump called The apprentice, the most controversial movie of this fall according to ABC. No studio touched it after its Cannes screening, Trump’s legal team want it forbidden and its investor, a Trump supporter, wants it exited. The Iranian Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi is in shock about the difficult release of the movie:
I always thought of the United States, yes, it’s not a perfect place. But one thing was always repeated to me: This is the land of the free. This is the land of freedom of speech. You can say what you want here. That’s not what I’ve been met with. I’ve been met with sheer business calculations.
The film finally came out on October 11th in the US.
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