By JAMES CARNEY Monday, May 17, 2004 Posted: 2:18 PM EDT (1818 GMT) Who is John Kerry?" asks George Butler. "It's a big question." The documentary filmmaker who propelled Arnold Schwarzenegger to fame with the 1977 movie Pumping Iron, Butler is hoping he will have crafted the definitive answer onto 90 minutes of celluloid in time to hit theaters by late summer. The film will be loosely based on Tour of Duty, Douglas Brinkley's admiring biography of Kerry's years as a boat captain in Vietnam and then as an antiwar protester. But Butler brings more to the $1.3 million project than his cinematic skills. A close friend of the Senator's for four decades -- he even served as press secretary for Kerry's failed 1972 congressional campaign -- Butler has photographed Kerry almost obsessively. He has collected more than 6,000 photos over the years. "The material George has is unbelievable," says Bill Samuels, one of the film's producers. "Nobody else could make this film." Perhaps, but will anyone want to see it? The Bush campaign and most political reporters will probably dismiss the film pre-emptively as an extended campaign ad. Butler, they will point out, is not an objective biographer, and Samuels, among other investors in the film, is a Kerry fund raiser. Though Butler says the Kerry campaign has no editorial control over the film, it is cooperating. "The secret to [Kerry's] future is in his past," says Butler, promising "a fair amount of objectivity." He notes that he and Schwarzenegger were close friends when he made Pumping Iron. "Don't compare me to Boswell," he adds, "but the fact is, the greatest biography ever written" -- The Life of Samuel Johnson -- "was written by Johnson's best friend." link
It'll give new meaning to the term mixed reviews. You'll know exactly who liked it, exactly who hated it/didn't see it but hated it anyway, and exactly why in both cases. I think it'd make a lot more money if he were already president. If they came out with a Clinton movie during his terms that would've been something at the box office.
Yeah, I liked it...wouldn't mind seeing it again. I don't think it did a whole lot of damage at the box office though. I can't remember if it came out before or after Monica. EDIT: just looked it up...it came out before monica. I guess the movie/book turned out to be kind of prophetic.
Actually, "Wag the Dog" was the rallying cry from the right that allowed OBL to get away when Clinton was considering going after him. From what I understand, that movie was not based on anyone in particular, but the right decided to make it about Clinton. I am sure that it didn't help that Clinton was in office at the time.
"the right" made that movie??? it starred dustin freaking hoffman. not exactly a champion of conservative causes!
He didn't mean make as in created the movie. He meant it like they made it an issue for Clinton or a rally cry against Clinton.
No, of course not. They didn't MAKE the movie, they just used it as their rallying cry after it came out and Clinton was being attacked for Monicagate.
Again, the movie was completely fictional. The comparisons to Clinton came up long after, during the Monica lewinsky "scandal."
