A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : FIELD OF BEAMS : How to Explain Environmental ‘Gentleman’

Filmgoers in the know may think they detect the work of the industry-sponsored Environmental Media Assn. (EMA) in a pivotal scene in Disney’s current political satire, “The Distinguished Gentleman,” during which a mother and daughter pay a visit to con-man-turned-congressman Thomas Jefferson Johnson.

Until that moment, Johnson, played by Eddie Murphy, has been bent entirely on self-enrichment, but suddenly he encounters a public issue that actually moves him and prompts him (and the movie) to change direction. The young girl (Autumn Winters) is recovering from a brain tumor; she and her mother (Susan Forristal) suspect that high-voltage transmission lines near her school may be responsible for the child’s cancer.

EMA, whose board consists of some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Michael Eisner, chairman of the Walt Disney Co., was founded in 1989 expressly to promote such issues through movies and television. But the scene came as a total surprise to the organization, according to its president, Andy Spahn.

Instead, the plot point was inspired by a series of New Yorker articles by Paul Brodeur that were expanded into a 1989 book entitled “Currents of Death,” said Marty Kaplan, executive producer and screenwriter for “The Distinguished Gentleman.”

Over the years, Brodeur has warned of increasing evidence that exposure to the alternating-current magnetic fields given off by power lines, often found near schools, may lead to cancer. As it happens, another Brodeur piece on this subject appearing in the Dec. 7 New Yorker described how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tried to suppress its own report, which made a strong case for further study of the possible link between power lines and cancer. In the movie, Murphy’s character refers to the same document.

Kaplan said he had no trouble selling Disney executives on electromagnetic fields as a way of illustrating the corruption of the political system. “It seemed just right to everybody,” said the screenwriter, who served as chief speechwriter for Vice President Walter Mondale and holds a doctorate in modern thought and literature from Stanford. “It’s not one with obvious white hats and black hats, and it’s not one you’ve seen a million times. It’s also one with a human dimension.”

EMA’s Spahn said he is delighted that millions of Eddie Murphy fans may learn about the power-line issue for the first time. “I give Marty all the credit,” he said, “but I like to think we helped to create a climate, so to speak, for this type of work to be done in town.”