Based on a PBS Frontline documentary and written by a former West Wing writer. No doubt this will be a fair and accurate portrayal of Dick Cheney. HBO just aired a special on Ronald Reagan made by a man who hates him, have plans to give Sarah Palin a good working over and now will be going after Cheney. Looks like they're really gearing up for 2012.
The mini, which will be based on the bestselling book and the Frontline documentary The Dark Side, tells the story of Richard Bruce Cheney from his early days as Donald Rumsfeld’s protégé in the Nixon administration, to the nation's youngest Chief of Staff under President Ford, to serving as Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush, through two controversial terms as Vice President under President George W. Bush. According to the producers, the project will center on Cheney's "single-minded pursuit of enhanced power for the Presidency (that) was unprecedented in the nation's history."
That sure is approaching the subject on an even keel.
Rick Cleveland (Six Feet Under), who shared a writing Emmy with Aaron Sorkin for NBC's White House drama The West Wing, is writing the mini, produced by Spring Creek Prods. and Fair Catch Prods. Spring Creek's Paula Weinstein and Jeffrey Levine, Frontline's David Fanning and Michael Kirk and Fair Catch Prods.' David Kennedy are executive producing.
This is the second HBO longform project about prominent Republican party figures announced in the past few weeks. The pay cable network also has greenlit Game Change, a Jay Roach-directed movie, which follows John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign from his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate to their ultimate defeat in the general election. Julianne Moore has been cast as the former Alaska governor.
Produced by Edward Norton's Class 5 Films and directed by Amy Rice (From Ashes) and Alicia Sams (Toots), BY THE PEOPLE: The Election of Barack Obama will be released theatrically in the U.S. by HBO Documentary Films. The documentary follows the former Senator from the announcement of his candidacy to his historic election and inauguration as the first African American president of the United States. Told through unprecedented and exclusive footage of Obama and his staff, the film offers viewers an all-access pass to campaign life on the road to the White House.
"This remarkable film gives us a unique behind-the-scenes look at a truly transformative event. The filmmakers have done a beautiful job of creating a compelling narrative, and we are proud to be able to make the film available to the global market," said Steve Bersch, President, SPWAG.
"Obama's election was, clearly, a global event which people all over the world felt deeply about on both political and emotional levels. From the start, it was very important to us to share this film with as broad an international audience as possible and we're really thrilled to be partnered with Sony in trying to achieve this because no company has more experience or reach in both the world markets and home video," said Producer Edward Norton.
Yawn.
Prediction: It'll tank, but will no doubt win critical accalim and all sorts of awards.
I have written previously about the HBO movie that premiered last night called "Taking Chance", the story of LTC Strobl who escorted the body of LCpl Chance Phelps home for his final trip, and after watching the movie last night all I can say is Bravo! to HBO.
I talked about the movie earlier today on my BTR radio show, (click the icon over on the right to hear the episode), and left my comments over at Blackfive's place in the hopes that the Phelps family will see them.
If you have HBO I can wholeheartedly recommend that you watch this movie, with generous amounts of Kleenex handy.
But this is more then a movie about the sacrifice of a Marine, it is the story of America. The America we don't see on our televisions, but the one in which we all live. Too much of the attention in the media is to that 5% that manage to make asses out of themselves and therefore get more then their amount of attention.
While it is the story about the honor and respect that is shown to the fallen by the military, a much bigger part of the movie shows us just how decent and respectful most Americans are of those who put on the uniform and are willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice to protect the rest of us and our way of lives.
The only big name star in the movie is Kevin Bacon, who played the role of LTC Strobl, the officer who escorted LCpl Chance Phelps' body home for burial. To me that was a good thing. People were not playing watch the stars and instead were drawn to the story.
I was struck by the respect paid to him and to the body of Chance by everyday people all across this nation. People from every walk of life, all age groups, and all areas. Some too young to realize just what it was they were witnessing, but taking their cues from the adults around them knew that something special was occurring.
I will admit to tensing up a few times in the movie, when I saw an opportunity for some left wing, liberal, anti war talking point to be inserted into the movie, but it never happened. I wonder how much peer pressure the producers and directors of this movie must have felt to do something like that? To their credit they did not give in to the temptation, and instead we got a view of the America most of us live in.
It is rare that I can recommend a movie without having to issue some sort of caveat, but I can do it with this one.
The movie will be on HBO for a while, so those that can please make the time to see it. Other viewing options are that HBO is going to make this available "On Demand" starting on Monday for those that have cable service that offers such a feature. For others the DVD should be coming out in May.
During my career I never performed the duties of escort. I have been a notification officer, even though I was an NCO, on a couple of occasions as well as being part of the military funeral detail on numerous occasions. Every time I took my duties seriously and performed my duties with all of the respect and solemnity that was called for. As hard as it was for me, I always realized that it was far harder for those for whom I was performing the service for, and always kept in mind that if the roles were reversed that those that I may have left behind would be accorded the same.
Finally thanks to the Phelps family and LTC Strobl for sharing their story with the rest of us. Cross posted at my place.
The Obama inaugural is for sale and not everyone is thrilled that the gooey Hopenchange events are being sold to the highest bidder.
Barack Obama's inaugural organizing committee has struck deals with three television networks to the tune of more than $5 million, giving the networks exclusive access to inaugural events. But the arrangement is prompting questions about the president-elect's efforts to raise money by turning his inauguration into made-for-TV productions.
All told, Obama's licensing of inaugural events to TV is the most ambitious and expensive in presidential history. Bill Clinton's committee licensed events to HBO and CBS during his first inauguration in 1993, but other presidential committees have generally shied away from selling exclusive rights to official events.
Of course others have shied away. They have a sense of shame. But why anyone is surprised that these people would sell access is beyond me. Everything is for sale with these people. Obama would sell his soiled underwear on eBay if he knew some idiot would buy them (I hope I'm not giving him any ideas here) and I have no doubt people would bid big bucks for them.
Amazingly, there's still people out there not slurping the Kool-Aid.
"I'm extremely disturbed by it," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a Washington group that promotes media-ownership diversity. "The Lincoln Memorial has such significance, and to not make [the concert] available to the entire country just seems elitist."
HBO says it is "encouraging" cable and satellite TV providers to make the 100-minute Lincoln Memorial concert, which begins at 2:30 p.m., freely available to all their customers. But cable companies say technical and legal reasons will likely prevent them from doing so everywhere.
In Fairfax and Fredericksburg, for example, Cox will show the program only to people who receive digital-channel service. That leaves out about 40 percent of cable subscribers. Comcast, whose cable systems cover most of the Washington area, says about 75 percent of its subscribers receive digital cable and will be able to see the Lincoln Memorial concert. People who don't receive cable or satellite service -- about 14 million in all nationwide -- will be shut out as well.
HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer said the concert would be streamed online at HBO.com for those who can't see it. National Public Radio will also carry audio of the event.
The exclusive deals also have riled some in the news media who say the events are of historic importance and thus newsworthy.
A C-SPAN spokesman, John Cardarelli, said the network was told by the inaugural committee that it could not cover the neighborhood ball.
I guess they're not showing the proper slavish devotion to The One.
Speaking of slavish devotion, check out this dispatch filed by Obama media aide Jennifer Loven, an alleged journalist.
At Union Station, as Obama set out from Philadelphia, the vanguard of perhaps the greatest crowd in Washington history was beginning to arrive.
Bursting with enthusiasm, Toni Mateo arrived from Atlanta, where he works at a public relations firm.
"It's going to be life-affirming for me," said Mateo. "It was really important that I come here to represent the family and to take the energy back with me." He said his train car was crowded but quiet — until "I just screamed out `Obama,' and the whole crowd erupted."
There are going to be a lot of disillusioned people pretty soon. They've built this guy up into demi-God status and no one person can possibly live up to such ridiculous expectations.
Tony Soprano is welcome in the North Jersey town of Bloomfield after all. Earlier this week, the town's mayor and council had denied a permit to film the series' final scene, saying they found the HBO mob drama a disparaging portrait of Italian-Americans.
However, township attorney Brian Aloia determined the council doesn't have a say in the permit process unless a waiver is needed, and said the town clerk has now issued the filming permit.
A waiver wasn't needed because producers would be filming in a commercial area after 8 p.m., he said.
HBO intended to shoot the scene at an ice cream shop in Bloomfield. The town borders Newark, where fictional mob boss Tony Soprano grew up.
A Garden State town council whacked "The Sopranos" Monday night, barring the Cosa Nostra drama from filming in suburban Bloomfield, N.J.
Local lawmakers hit the wildly popular HBO series due to what it called "negative depictions of Italian-Americans," said the town's mayor, Raymond McCarthy, a leading opponent of the show.
McCarthy - whose wife is Italian - said the show had intended to film the very last scene, for the very last episode, at a local Broad Street ice cream parlor, Holsten's Brookdale Confectionery.
As a former Bloomfield resident, I'm very disappointed the town has become so namby-pamby and weak-kneed, caving in to political correctness like their neighboring town, Montclair, once did.
Back in the first season of the program, the scene where an attempted hit was made on Tony Soprano was filmed in Montclair, an affluent, ultra-liberal enclave. Following that, the locals decided to bar The Sopranos from being filmed there because they used guns while filming. Shocking a mob hit would involve guns, isn't it? Of course, they failed to take into account the show is fiction and nobody was really being shot.
Still, there is still hope things can be resolved.
Holsten's owner is now complaining that the town's touchy politicians denied him a place in television history.
"We were excited," said the historic parlor's co-owner, Chris Carley, 53. "If it's good for the area and businesses, your personal opinions shouldn't be mixed in."
The council originally met in a closed-door conference last week and approved the shoot planned for later this month, following routine approvals from Bloomfield's traffic department.
But after pressure from McCarthy and Italian-American organizations, the council flipped and refused to allow the show to be filmed just one week later during its bi-weekly meeting.
Now, the county executive will try to step in to bring the matter back to a vote next Monday - and make the council an offer they can't refuse.
" 'The Sopranos' will hopefully have their last episode here," said Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo. "Hey, I'm an Italian-American and to me it's about the arts, it's about TV."
Good for DiVincenzo, and I hope he can exert some influence in this case.
One of the great things about The Sopranos, especially for New Jersey residents, is recognizing places you know while watching the program. I've had the opportunity to witness filming in past years and wherever you go, the show has been immensely popular for the locals as well as being a source of revenue. To deny a local establishment in a town like Bloomfield, with a heavily Italian population, to have the final scene in this landmark program, is really a disgrace. Having frequented the establishement in question makes it even more disappointing.
