Hollywood’s Endangered Species

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The New York Sun

Around the time that Arnold Schwarzenegger declared his candidacy for governor of California, documentary filmmaker Jesse Moss – a former Clinton campaigner and democratic Capitol Hill aid – got to thinking: Are there any other Republicans in Hollywood?


Armed with a commission from the cable network AMC, Mr. Moss set out in search of West Coast right-wingers. The result is his documentary “Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood,” which debuts tonight on AMC.


Though the point of departure for the film is Mr. Schwarzenegger’s campaign, Mr. Moss took a broad look at the existence and whereabouts of Hollywood Republicans. And he went straight to the source by interviewing a few famous conservative faces, including “Wheel of Fortune’s” Pat Sajak, screenwriter Lionel Chetwynd, actor Ben Stein, and cultural critic Michael Medved.


Mr. Medved remarks poignantly in the documentary: “My dream for Hollywood is that in an era when we have seen Poland, Russia, and Hungary all leave one party tyranny and develop multiparty democracy, maybe Hollywood can be liberated next.” But the lesson of Mr. Moss’s film is that, while La La Land is still generally unfriendly to anything but lockstep liberalism, things seem to be loosening up – in part due to the “Governator” and shifts in the demographics of Hollywood arrivistes, according to Mr. Chetwynd.


But would liberating Tinseltown from the sway of Streisand-style liberalism really be all that beneficial for Republicans? In the current political landscape, Republicans seem to benefit from the excesses of a rabidly liberal Hollywood. It’s a foil. Sure, it might be helpful if Martin Sheen were to support the administration – instead of putting a strip of duct tape over his mouth with the word “peace” on it. But his lack of support gives Republicans the populist stand: Those sexy, red-carpet elites can protest all they want, but the good people of Saginaw know better.


When President Bush wants to jab the Democrats for show-biz morality, he uses a version of the following line in his stump speech, alluding to a comment made by Senator Kerry: “My opponents think you can find the heart and soul of America in Hollywood. I think you can find it right here in Saginaw, Michigan.”(Or whatever other red-state town he’s in.) For his convention speech, Mr. Bush used a similar formulation: “If you say the heart and soul of America is found in Hollywood, I’m afraid you are not the candidate of conservative values.”


There is another message burbling beneath the surface of Mr. Bush’s comments. Certain candidates are close to Hollywood and others are not. Hollywood was President Clinton’s turf. It loved him and he loved it. Remember the celebrities in the Lincoln Bedroom? Babs singing “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man”? Harry Thomason? Los Angeles’s moral authority is pretty much summarized by T-shirt political philosophy: “Clinton lied, no one died.”


So no matter what Mr. Moss was to discover in his film, Hollywood’s Republicans are likely to remain an endangered species. Not because there aren’t enough of them. But because there’s no reason to preserve them.


Even so, more party faithful seem to be popping up in show business, and they’re increasingly willing to make themselves known, it would seem. Mr. Moss interviewed an optimistic political group that calls itself the Hollywood Congress of Republicans, made up of people in the film industry who share similar views. There is also considerable footage of the groundswell of cool kids supporting Mr. Schwarzenegger.


One of the most touching interviews in the film is with indie bad boy Vincent Gallo, who improbably has become a pal of the Bush twins. “My fantasy is not having the Republican Party become more like me,” he says. “My fantasy is becoming more like the stereotype of the Republican party. I wish I looked a lot more like George Will.”


Mr. Gallo says he came to see how the world was divided while watching a documentary of Super Bowl III with his father. The game pitted the Baltimore Colts, led by the “extremely conservative, humble, incredibly gifted Johnny Unitas” against the “new, cocky, self-centered, alcohol-addicted, womanizing, flashy, hippy counterculture New York Jets.”


Mr. Gallo had a visceral dislike of Joe Namath and the Jets, but found a hero in Mr. Unitas: “He was my first true idol. He was the man I would hope one day to be.” In life, Mr. Gallo turned out about as unlike Mr. Unitas as humanly possible, but the experience framed his political worldview.


Though Mr. Gallo – with his soulful eyes and mess of curly black hair – is so hip it hurts, the rest of the interviews in this documentary involve people who are more mainstream. Comedian Drew Carey, who gave Mr. Moss a substantial interview, calls himself a libertarian, which he describes as “a conservative who still gets high.” But then there’s Patricia Heaton, co-star of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” who founded Feminists for Life. She tells a funny anecdote about bringing a dinner party to a halt by expressing support for Mr. Bush.


To give the matter of politics and the entertainment industry some historical perspective, Mr. Moss spends an appropriate amount of time on the subject of McCarthyism and the black list. It’s Pat Sajak who comments: “It comes up so often, as if McCarthy is prowling the hallways here and is going to come out and say ‘Boo’ one of these days.”


And though the past weighs heavily, the most severe dividing line appears to be religion. Fiscal conservatives who vote right, live left are one thing. But conservative Christians in Hollywood are like members of an untouchable caste. Mr. Moss stopped by a meeting of Act One, a Christian screenwriters’ group led by a former nun to interview some of the members. These folks have their work cut out for them, though they do benefit from Mel Gibson’s success with “The Passion of the Christ.”


In the end, Mr. Moss has put together an interesting, honest documentary in which he comes off as the hapless, curious guy. He even seems to have developed a soft spot for his subject. He closes the film by saying: “I didn’t expect to like the people I met making this film. But I did. I just don’t happen to agree with them.” Which sounds oddly tolerant – maybe things really are changing in Hollywood.


The New York Sun

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