Jumping on the Bandwagon : Suddenly, a Slew of Films, TV Shows Enter the Political World

The presidential candidate makes his way through the crowd on Los Angeles’ Olvera Street. A perfect photo-op, and his “handlers” smile accordingly. Someone puts a huge, multicolored sombrero on the candidate’s head and he looks slightly ridiculous. “ Hasta luego” he shouts as he moves on.

A reporter sticks a microphone in the candidate’s face and asks what his priorities will be if elected. “Well, of course, we have to do something about the economy . . . ,” he begins.

It all seems real until the director shouts, “Cut!” and actor Ed Harris bursts into laughter and quickly takes off his hat. Diane Keaton, who plays his fiancee with a questionable past in “Running Mates,” an HBO movie set to air in October, prepares to conclude the scene by rushing into a limo to avoid a headline-hungry press corps.

Keaton, along with executive producer Marvin Worth (“Lenny,” the upcoming “Malcolm X”) has been trying to get “Running Mates” off the ground for four years. Little did the two envision that by the time filming started, the country would not only be in the middle of a contentious election, but the very issues dealt with in the film--a candidate’s private life and an overzealous press--would be more relevant than ever.

“Running Mates” is not alone in its timeliness. Suddenly, a slew of films and television movies and series are dealing with the world of politics: “The Distinguished Gentleman,” starring Eddie Murphy as a con man who goes to Congress, is in production and will be released before the year is out.

Soon to start production is “Dave,” with Kevin Kline as a presidential look-alike who is called in to replace an incapacitated President. A power-hungry White House staff engineers the trick, hoping to fool not only the country but even the President’s wife (played by Sigourney Weaver). The film is expected to be released by Warner Bros. next year.

Opening Sept. 4 is “Bob Roberts,” a pseudo-documentary about a right-wing folk singer who runs for political office. Written, directed by and starring Tim Robbins, it was one of the most acclaimed films this year at Cannes.

Politics also comes to television. A new series, “Hearts Afire,” from Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason (“Designing Women,” “Evening Shade”) about an ailing Washington politician and those who work for him will debut Sept. 14 on CBS. It stars John Ritter and Markie Post.

“Majority Rule,” starring Blair Brown as an Army general running for President, airs on Lifetime TV Oct. 27. The film is part of the cable network’s get-out-the-vote campaign, which includes spots by female politicians.

Over at NBC, there’s Norman Lear’s “The Powers That Be,” which stars John Forsythe as a senator last seen running for reelection. However, that series, just a few months old, is not scheduled to return in early September as originally planned, but has been shifted to a mid-season, post-election spot in January. The network says it didn’t have room for the series at this time. Lear, who had plans to comment on the election, says having the show moved “is as frustrating as anything I’ve ever lived through in television.” Even in the copycat mentality of Hollywood, the glut is unusual. Especially since history has shown that films and shows dealing with political life are poison at the box office. “Hollywood has never liked them and the more realistic they are, the less they like them,” notes Gore Vidal, who wrote “The Best Man” in the ‘60s and plays a senator in “Bob Roberts.”

“The Best Man” earned excellent reviews but the film, which took place at a convention and featured Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson, did not do well. “One problem was we came out at the same time as ‘Advise and Consent’ (a 1962 picture with Charles Laughton and Henry Fonda),” says Vidal, “and that got terrible reviews. All people knew was that there were two political films but they couldn’t remember which was the good one. So they didn’t go to either. Also, weirdly, just to save $5, we didn’t put ours in color, which has hurt us in retrospect.”

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” with James Stewart was one of the greats but even that was not a blockbuster in its time. A more searing Capra film, “State of the Union,” which starred Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy and is timely even today, was even less of a success. (Wonder where Ronald Reagan got his “I paid for this microphone!” line? Rent this movie.)

There have been other films dealing with politics over the years--”The Seduction of Joe Tynan” (notable only for Meryl Streep’s hilariously sexy film debut), “The Parallax View,” “WUSA,” last year’s “True Colors,” though none did well. Although it has had a successful afterlife, even “The Candidate,” (1972) starring Robert Redford, finished far down the list of the year’s most successful movies at the box office.

“It was a flop, which people seem not to realize,” says its director, Michael Ritchie. “We made about $4 million domestically. The fact is, movies about politics don’t make money.”

In the world of weekly television, politics also has not fared well. Lear’s “All’s Fair,” starring Bernadette Peters and Richard Crenna as sparring political partners, was short-lived. Last spring, Steven Bochco and Co. failed with “Capitol Critters,” which tried to look at the White House from the viewpoint of the residence’s non-humans. However, one of the most innovative projects ever to deal with politics was Robert Altman’s 1988 HBO series, “Tanner ‘88,” which followed a fictional candidate going through the primaries right along with the actual candidates of that season. The first of three volumes of “Tanner ‘88” will be released by Voyager on laser disc on Sept. 9.

The low success rates aside, one of the key reasons for the increase in current projects is the comedic fodder the ever-absurd political scene provides.

“We’re already laughing at the political situation, so this just gives us a chance to do it out loud collectively,” says Marty Kaplan, executive producer of “The Distinguished Gentleman.”

“Washington is less to be feared because it’s proved itself to be so ridiculous,” adds writer-producer David Rintels, who has managed to get some political pieces--albeit with a historical bent--on the small screen (“Sakharov,” “Day One”).

Also accounting for the upsurge, is the number of writers and producers now ensconced in Hollywood who either have come out of the political world or at least still feel somehow connected to their activist roots. Kaplan, for example, served as a speech writer and a deputy campaign manager to Walter Mondale. Gary Ross, the writer-originator of “Dave,” has long been involved with issues and electoral politics. “It’s like I have this other identity,” says Ross, who was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of “Big.” And the Thomasons, because of their friendship with Bill Clinton, have been extremely active in his campaign, offering their producing skills to advance his effort.

In “Hearts Afire,” Bloodworth-Thomason will certainly be able to take advantage of some of the current political issues. Not simply because it takes place in Washington, but because she is known to be very quick to respond to current events. She managed to get out a “Designing Women” episode about the Clarence Thomas hearings exactly three weeks after they concluded. (But because of their association with the Clintons, the Thomasons have promised to steer clear of direct partisan politicking.) “We just feel it’s a great area in which to mine for comedy,” says co-executive producer-director Harry Thomason.

(Similarly, there is much anticipation over how “Murphy Brown” creators will respond to Vice President Dan Quayle’s earlier comments about Murphy’s single motherhood when the series resumes on Sept. 21.)

While “Running Mates” and “Bob Roberts” will no doubt benefit from being released close to the election--”It just adds an additional bit of suspense and relevancy,” in the words of “Running Mates” executive producer Worth--the soon-to-be produced “Dave” runs the risk of coming out when people have had it up to here with anything political.

Writer Ross, who went through a similar dilemma with “Big” (which followed three other man-in-kid’s-bodies movies), says he isn’t worried: “If this movie lives or dies on our ability to get out before the election, it shouldn’t have been made. Anyway, we may make it just in time for the debate in the House of Representatives.”

While many filmmakers and television producers are embracing politics, it’s not altogether without caution.

CBS’s Executive Vice President of Entertainment Peter Tortorici stresses that “Hearts Afire” is not strictly about politics. “ . . . this isn’t going to be a political show, it’s a romantic comedy that happens to take place in Washington,” he says. “To say it’s a political show is like saying ‘Lethal Weapon 2’ was about South Africa.”

“Ours is not about politics, but it’s set in the political world,” says executive producer Kaplan of “The Distinguished Gentleman.” “I’m not playing the politics down,” he insists, “but I’m trying to keep my eye on the ball. It’s about Washington the way ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ was about Beverly Hills.”

One common theme running through most the current projects is that politicians either forget who they were once they attain office, or are willing to sell out along the way.

In “Dave,” the President has so forgotten what he used to believe in that his idealistic wife has stopped sleeping with him. Which makes her all the more confused when she suddenly finds herself falling in love again with the man now running the White House who certainly looks like her husband, but is doing all these wonderful things. When he saves a homeless shelter, she gives in completely, and a love story begins.

Lear also sees “The Powers That Be” as a show about a man “getting back to what he was as a young man. We hope to use his daughter and a growing grandson as vehicles through which he’ll find his backbone again.”

“The Candidate” dealt brilliantly with this theme all those years ago. That ended with a just-elected Redford wondering who he had become and what he was supposed to do next. “One line motivated us to do that movie,” recalls Michael Ritchie. “If Blank Blank ran for President, he wouldn’t be Blank Blank by the time he got elected.”

Ritchie added with a touch of irony that the film was “patterned after Jerry Brown should he ever decide to become a presidential candidate.”

“We didn’t think one could do it unless he was actually related to someone already in office, so we made him the son of the former governor,” Ritchie said.

Increasingly, filmmakers seek to base their projects on “reality.”

“There’s virtually nothing in our movie that’s not true,” says “Distinguished Gentleman’s” Kaplan, adding that it’s hard keeping up with the real headlines. For example, Washington’s check-kiting incident suddenly necessitated script revisions. “I have had to adjust accordingly, since when we began, some of the perks that lured Murphy’s character to Washington were things like the subsidized gym and the bank.”

Aside from his own real-life experience, Kaplan says he is fortunate to have as a director Jonathan Lynn (“My Cousin Vinny”), an Englishman who spent 10 years honing political comedy with “Yes, Minister” and “Yes, Prime Minister.” “He has a deep familiarity with how politicians behave behind closed doors,” says Kaplan.

Lynn also brings a non-American perspective to the political process, being properly appalled and amused at the same time. Director Ivan Reitman (“Kindergarten Cop,” “Twins”), who was born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Canada, brings some of the same perspective to “Dave.”

“I’m not by nature political,” says Reitman, “which may come from my being twice removed. It might make me a better observer. But I must say I’ve never been so nervous and careful about getting the tone exactly right. It’s an outrageously unlikely situation but it will only work if you believe in the truth of every moment.”

To add credibility to their film, Reitman and Ross have snared a star-studded group of news reporters (Maria Shriver, Susan Spencer, the McLaughlin Group, Bob Schieffer) to play themselves. The same approach was used effectively in “The Candidate.” In “Tanner ‘88,” the fictional candidate was constantly seen mingling with the actual candidates. “They were agreeable,” says Altman. “Anything to get in front of a camera.”

One key question facing all the new projects is how they will play years down the line. “We kept asking ourselves, ‘What can we do that will make this relevant 10 years from now?’ ” recalls “The Candidate’s” Michael Ritchie. “Little did we now that in 20 years we’d still be stuck in the same place.”