The “What if?” Games have always fascinated me: What if Donald Trump came into play? shark cage instead of the intern (that was the call from Mark Burnett)? He would probably be broken in front of the president.
I quote this to remind readers that Hollywood plays a role in both our politics and our pop culture, and as such the city would do well to heed the cultural shift reflected in this week’s election results. Audiences are changing – will movies and TV change accordingly?
Hollywood rulers once prided themselves on their ability to manipulate political power. Lew Wasserman and his allies helped create former SAG President Ronald Reagan as a political force, and Reagan returned the favor on many levels.
Hollywood visited the Clinton White House, but Trump never made a movie there (at least, Nixon reiterated) patton).
The Kennedys enjoyed their cool connections with Hollywood’s inner circle until they realized the dangers.
Wasserman once said that while Hollywood has mastered the art of casting movies, Democrats can’t learn how to cast their candidates.
He could not believe that George McGovern was the choice to oppose a vulnerable Nixon, who ended up getting 61% of the vote (the electoral vote was 520-17). McGovern’s vice presidential nominee had to resign after undergoing electroshock therapy.
Will this week’s shocking election shifts be reflected in the TV or film product? Washington produced the most impactful TV show of 2022 with its investigation into the Jan. 6 riot, but now it could set the stage for the Rep’s renewed impeachment hearings. Jim Jordan.
The experts ask themselves: What explains the changing moods? To David Brooks, the esteemed columnist of… The New York Times, the answer is clear. “The divide between the university and non-university communities continues to widen,” he wrote. “America must face the fact of the class struggle.”
JD Vance, who won a Senate seat on Tuesday, gave a speech declaring that “universities are our enemy.” Before politics, Vance went to Yale with Ron DeSantis, but unlike the Florida governor, he has yet to declare war on Disney World.
I once tried to spread Brooks’ theory through a film called: There isin which Peter Sellers played a presidential candidate whose biggest draw was total ignorance (I was president of Lorimar at the time).
When journalists peppered him with questions about wars and recessions, Sellers’ character Chauncey Gardiner responded with vague analogies to the state of his garden. He was a gardener by profession before entering politics as a soldier for the sake of ambiguity.
The problem: Hal Ashby, the director, came to me in the middle of production and asked: how do we end this film? His solution: Peter Sellers walked on water.
Donald Trump may try, but it may be too late.
Writer: Peter Bart
Source: Deadline
