Hollywood has long maintained a mutual love affair with the presidency. John F. Kennedy was famously friendly with Marilyn Monroe, who serenaded him with “Happy birthday, Mr. President,” and his father, Joseph, financed movie studios and dallied with Gloria Swanson.
The entertainment biz begat Ronald Reagan and embraced Bill Clinton, who returned its affection. Barack Obama’s historic presidential drive took a great leap forward in early 2007 when David Geffen publicly dissed Hillary Clinton around the time Geffen and his DreamWorks partners, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, threw a $1.3 million fundraiser for Obama.
After eight years of George W. Bush, Hollywood is eager to embrace a president that it passionately backed. But does that mark a return to the Clinton years, when the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom had a revolving-door policy for such star supporter/donors as Barbra Streisand, Tom Hanks, Ted Danson, Chevy Chase, Spielberg and Geffen?
Or will Obama keep the celebrity crowd at more of an arm’s distance, as he did for much of his campaign?
“I’ve known the Clintons very, very well over the years, and I just think he is a different quality person,” Katzenberg said of Obama, for whom he was one of the top fundraisers. “It’s like apples and submarines. I think he is way less interested in or fascinated by Hollywood.”
Not Clinton dynamic
One key difference: Clinton basked in the glow of celebrities. Now celebrities bask in the glow of Obama while hoping not to diminish him. Throughout the campaign, stars such as George Clooney were careful not to be too public in their Obama support for fear of stirring up an anti-Obama backlash.
“I think we were all quite aware that we didn’t want to blow it for him by endorsing him too loudly,” actress Sigourney Weaver said.
As it was, Republican presidential nominee John McCain aired an ad depicting Obama as a celebrity along the lines of Paris Hilton. Even now, Matthew Broderick, who made a “Ferris Bueller”- themed campaign message for Obama shortly before the election, said he is reluctant to attend the inauguration out of concern for the new president’s image.
“I know it wouldn’t look good if a lot of celebrities pushed out regular Joes to get on that lawn,” said Broderick.
This dynamic marks a dramatic change from the previous eight years. During the Bush presidency, aside from a brief respite after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the entertainment world maintained an adversarial relationship with the man who lost the popular vote but gained the presidency over Hollywood favorite Al Gore — and who presided over an unpopular overseas war as well as a cultural clash that saw the Federal Communications Commission levying record obscenity fines against television and radio stations.
Hollywood’s feelings about the Bush administration were reflected in a wave of cynicism-tinged dramas and thrillers such as “Syriana,” “Rendition,” and this year’s “Eagle Eye” and “Body of Lies.” In those movies, as well as TV shows such as “24,” the government is portrayed as sinister and invasive.
The Clinton era wasn’t exactly lacking in cynicism either, particularly after the Monica Lewinsky scandal hit, but the president maintained much closer ties with the entertainment industry than either President Bush. The husband-and-wife producing team of Harry Thomason and Linda BloodworthThomason was active in his campaigns, and Clinton spent much energy courting the Hollywood crowd.
One big difference is that Bill Clinton arrived in and presided over a period of relative peace and prosperity. Obama is taking over a country bogged down in two wars and an economic crisis.
“It was OK for the Clintons to come here and be part of the party,” said Lionel Chet- wynd, a Republican producer/writer. “The ’90s were a big party. The Obamas have a more sober view of Hollywood and what it represents.”
The big question is: What impact will Obama’s presidency have on our culture? Members of the Obama camp did not respond to interview requests, but Hollywood Republicans and Democrats were united in their hopefulness.
“Speaking as a real dedicated Bushie, I do recognize the enormous change that this guy represents psychologically,” Chetwynd said. “And when you work in a business that is driven almost exclusively by the psychological impulse, you’re going to see an enormous difference.”
“I am a great believer that art can transform situations that politics can’t, and I feel that Obama is too,” Weaver said.
Veteran writer-producer Larry Gelbart (“M*A*S*H*”) envisions a general raising of the intellectual bar. “I think there’ll be a slow awakening or reawakening of the fact that it’s OK to speak in complete sentences,” he said, also noting: “He has young kids, and they have to be keeping up with the culture. He knows the songs they know. He knows the performers. They have lively curiosities, and I think we will see jazz musicians in the East Room and classical musicians other than Condoleezza Rice.”
