| The American President | |
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.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Rob Reiner |
| Written by | Aaron Sorkin |
| Produced by | Rob Reiner |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | John Seale |
| Edited by | Robert Leighton |
| Music by | Marc Shaiman |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 113 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $62 million[2] |
| Box office | $108 million[3] |
The American President is a 1995 Americanpoliticalromanticcomedy drama film directed and produced byRob Reiner and written byAaron Sorkin. It starsMichael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd, a widower who pursues a romantic relationship with Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), an environmentallobbyist who has just moved to Washington, D.C.Martin Sheen,Michael J. Fox andRichard Dreyfuss star in supporting roles.
The American President was released on November 17, 1995, byColumbia Pictures (throughSony Pictures Releasing) in the United States and Canada and byUniversal Pictures (throughUnited International Pictures) in international markets, and grossed $108 million on a budget of $62 million. It was praised for its lead performances, score, story, and screenplay, and nominated forGolden Globes forBest Picture – Musical or Comedy,Best Director,Best Actor – Musical or Comedy,Best Actress – Musical or Comedy, andBest Screenplay.[4][5]Marc Shaiman was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score.[6][7] In 2002, theAmerican Film Institute rankedThe American President No. 75 on its list ofAmerica's Greatest Love Stories.[8]
PopularDemocraticU.S. President Andrew Shepherd prepares to run for re-election. The president and his staff, led byChief of Staff and best friendA. J. MacInerney, attempt to consolidate the administration's 63%approval rating by passing a moderate crime control bill. However, support for the bill in both parties is tepid:conservatives reject it, andliberals think it is too weak. If passed, however, Shepherd's re-election is presumed to be guaranteed. Shepherd resolves to announce the bill, and have theCongressional support to pass it, by hisState of the Union Address.
When the widowed President's cousin Judith is sick and unable to act as hostess at astate dinner for theFrench president, Shepherd realizes his staff's public portrayal of him as lonelywidower is true. Soon after, Shepherd meets and is attracted to Sydney Ellen Wade, a lawyer employed by an environmentallobbying firm working to pass legislation to substantially reducecarbon dioxide emissions. He invites Sydney to act as hostess (and his date) at the state dinner, where she charms the guests and shares a dance with Andy.
During a meeting, Shepherd strikes a deal with Wade: if she can secure 24 votes for the environmental bill before his State of the Union Address, he will deliver the last ten. MacInerney believes Wade will fail to obtain enough votes, thus releasing Shepherd from responsibility if the bill fails to pass.
Shepherd and Wade begin seeing each other and fall in love.Republican presidential hopeful Senator Bob Rumson steps up his attacks, focusing on Wade's activist past and maligning Shepherd's ethics andfamily values. The President's refusal to refute Rumson's aspersions lowers his approval ratings and erodes crucial political support that threatens the crime bill.
Wade is dejected after her failed meeting with threeMichigan congressmen to discuss the environmental bill. When she tells Shepherd about the meeting, she inadvertently mentions that the only bill the congressmen want to defeat more than the President's crime bill is Wade's environmental bill. Shepherd and MacInerney are conflicted about how they obtained this sensitive information. However, they are unable to ignore the opportunity to pass the crime bill, even if it means the President going back on his deal with Wade.
Eventually, Wade secures enough votes for the environmental bill while Shepherd is three short. He can only obtain them by shelving the environmental bill to solidify the three Michigan congressmen's votes for the crime bill, which he reluctantly agrees to do.
Wade's firm fires her for failing to achieve their objectives and for seemingly jeopardizing her political reputation. She goes to see Shepherd to end their relationship and says she has a job opportunity inHartford, Connecticut. While he defends the crime bill as his top priority, she criticizes it as weakly worded with little chance of preventing crime.
Prior to the State of the Union Address, Shepherd makes a surprise appearance in the White House press room and rebukes Rumson's attacks on his values and character, as well as his relentless innuendos that Wade prostituted herself for political favors. He declares he will send the controversial environmental bill to Congress with a massive 20% cut infossil fuels – far more than the 10% originally proposed. Furthermore, he is withdrawing the crime bill for a stronger one with significantgun control measures.
Shepherd's passion galvanizes the press and his staff. Shepherd and Wade are reconciled, then she walks him to the doors of the House chamber where he enters to thunderous applause as he is about to deliver the State of the Union Address.
Originally, actorRobert Redford approached a number of screenwriters with the single-line premise, "the president elopes".Aaron Sorkin, on the basis of his treatment, was selected by Redford to write the screenplay with Redford attached to star.Emma Thompson turned down the role of Sydney Wade. WhenRob Reiner was brought aboard to direct, Redford dropped out. At the time, in October 1994, with cameras set to roll on November 30 of that year, Redford's publicist attributed his decision to his desire "to do a love story, but (Reiner) wanted to do something that was ultimately about politics". Other sources suggested that Redford and Reiner "didn't get along...It was a personality thing."[9]
In later interviews, writer Sorkin toldTV Guide he wrote the screenplay while high oncrack cocaine while he was living at theFour Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, which is why it took him three years to complete it.[10]
An extensive White House set, of both theEast andWest Wings, was built on theCastle Rock Entertainment lot inCulver City. The set'sOval Office was later reused for the filmsNixon andIndependence Day.[11]
William Richert sued theWriters Guild of America over not being credited on the screenplay of the film. Richert claimed Sorkin's screenplay was a thinly veiled plagiarism of Richert's 1981 screenplayThe President Elopes.[12] After Guild arbitration, Sorkin was awarded full credit onThe American President. Richert also claimed that the television seriesThe West Wing was derived from part of the same screenplay.[13]
The American President grossed $60.1 million in the United States, and $47.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $107.9 million.[3]
The film grossed $10 million in its opening weekend (finishing third), $9.7 million in its second weekend, and $5.3 million in its third (finishing sixth both times).
OnRotten Tomatoes,The American President has an approval rating of 90% based on 130 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "A charming romantic comedy with political bite, Rob Reiner'sThe American President features strong lead performances and some poignant observations of politics and media in the 1990s."[14] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[15]
It received praise and "Two Thumbs Up" fromSiskel and Ebert who were surprised by how good the film was, considering Reiner's previous film,North, was chosen by both critics for the worst movie of the year. Ebert said after detestingNorth, he was very happy and pleased to give Reiner's next film a unanimously positive review. Siskel praised Douglas and Bening for their performances.
The screenplay for the film inspired many aspects of Sorkin's later television dramaThe West Wing. The two productions follow the staff of a largely idealizedWhite House, and like many of Sorkin's projects, share ideologies.
The film's influence can be seen most clearly in early episodes of the series; some dialogue-passages in the two are nearly identical. Sorkin has been known to say that much of the first season was actually taken from material he edited out of the first draft ofThe American President's script.
One of the issues touched on in the film and developed in the series relates to gun control bills, developed in "Five Votes Down". While the bill is ultimately withdrawn by President Shepherd because it is ineffectual, on the series President Bartlet and his staff work hard to pass their bill even though it is badly flawed (and end up doubly unhappy when VP John Hoynes, whom the President and senior staff are feuding with, clinches the bill for them by persuading an influential southern Democrat to support it).
More significant is the issue of a "proportional response" to military attacks on American assets abroad. InThe American President, Andrew Shepherd finds himself in theSituation Room having to order such an attack against Libya's intelligence headquarters after they bombed a missile defense system called "C-STAD" (Capricorn Surface-to-Air Defense) which had been positioned by the U.S. in Israel. He muses for a single line "Someday, someone's gonna have to explain to me the virtue of a proportional response", before giving the order. In "A Proportional Response",President Bartlet finds himself in similar circumstances (Syrian intelligence shot down a U.S. plane in Jordan and killed numerous Americans, including a young Naval officer who the President had decided would be his personal physician) and, seated in the White House Situation Room with his own National Security Council asks: "What is the virtue of a proportional response?" In both cases, the President chooses a military response that is relatively measured, but in the movie President Shepherd never considers a "disproportionate" response while President Bartlet plans such an action to destroy a large civilian airport in Syria; he eventually gives the green light for a strike similar to the one used in the movie.
The Global Defense Council, the fictional environmental lobby where Sydney Wade worked, is also featured in theWest Wing episode called "The Drop-In", and is often referred to in other episodes.
InThe American President, Sydney Ellen Wade is ultimately fired from her lobbyist position because the president has brokered a deal that causes her legislative effort to fail. Similarly, in the final episode of the third season ofThe West Wing, Deputy Chief of StaffJosh Lyman uses the same tactic and ends up gettingAmy Gardner fired from her position at the Women's Leadership Conference. Josh and Amy are dating when this takes place, just as the main characters are here. However, on the TV series it is Amy who tries to scuttle a bill (welfare reform) and Josh refuses to accept the demands of three Republican Congressmen because they amount to blackmail.
The American President includes mention of a Governor Stackhouse, while there is aMinnesota senator Howard Stackhouse (George Coe) in theWest Wing episodes "The Stackhouse Filibuster" and "The Red Mass". In the same way, the French President attending a state dinner inThe American President seems to be the same President d'Astier often referred to inThe West Wing.
Several actors fromThe American President reappear inThe West Wing, includingMartin Sheen (whose character inThe American President, A.J., is at one point accused by Shepherd of lacking the courage to run for office himself) as PresidentJosiah Bartlet,Anna Deavere Smith asNational Security Advisor Dr.Nancy McNally,Joshua Malina asWhite House Communications DirectorWill Bailey,Nina Siemaszko as Ellie Bartlet,Ron Canada as Under Secretary of State Theodore Barrow, andThom Barry as Congressman Mark Richardson.
Portrayals of the president as idealistic but indecisive are also similar. InThe American President, Shepherd has to be convinced by his staff to stand up to his Republican opponent and pursue gun control and environmental legislation decisively. InThe West Wing, Bartlet is sometimes referred to as “Uncle Fluffy” when endorsing moderate views that are more conciliatory and less resolute (for example, in the episodes “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet” and “The Two Bartlets”). More generally, both presidents are former university professors (history in the movie, economics in the show) with no military experience and a low tolerance for political expediency.
The concept for the television showSpin City was set in motion after the writers had seenMichael J. Fox inThe American President playing one of the President's political aides. They wanted him to play a similar character for television.[16]
In January 2012, while criticizing then-leader of the opposition (and future Prime Minister)Tony Abbott in a speech at theNational Press Club inCanberra, Australian Federal Minister (and another future Prime Minister)Anthony Albanese plagiarised several lines fromThe American President.[17]
In April 2013,New York Times columnistMaureen Dowd drew a sharp contrast between PresidentObama's unsuccessfuleffort to secure passage of expandedbackground-check legislation in the Senate, on one hand, and the all-out vote-gathering effort inThe American President.[18] The President responded to the column at the 2013White House Correspondents' Dinner, noting the criticism and posing a series of rhetorical questions to Michael Douglas, who he said was in the audience, including, "Could it be that you were an actor in an Aaron Sorkin liberal fantasy?"[19]
In the 2016 Presidential election candidateTed Cruz paraphrased a portion ofThe American President when fellow candidateDonald Trump insulted Cruz's wife. Cruz stated, "...and if Donald wants to get into a character fight, he’s better off sticking with me because Heidi is way out of his league,” alluding to the speech President Shepherd made about Rumson's attacks on Sydney Ellen Wade.[20]
The film is recognized by theAmerican Film Institute as number 75 in its 2002 list of100 Years...100 Passions.[21]
I was smoking crack cocaine every day' while writing the movie, Sorkin tells TV Guide in an interview...
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