Julia Louis-Dreyfus of “Veep,” 2013
President Michael Douglas? President Gene Hackman? President Harrison Ford? Hollywood has cast these and other screen personalities as chief executives, and in this multimedia presentation, film historian and former Washingtonian Max Alvarez plays the role of tour guide through nine decades of Hollywood Oval Office political misadventures.
How has film and television portrayed presidents of the United States? It all depends on the entertainment medium. American presidents were not considered major box office attractions when the Hollywood studios were at their heights from the 1920s through the 1950s. Aside from Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the World War II years, few if any sitting presidents appeared as characters in American films. And the handful of movies centering on either fictional presidents (Gabriel Over the White House, 1933) or factual presidents (Wilson, 1944) tended to fail at box offices.
It was not until the early ’60s JFK years that presidents briefly resurfaced in films (among them Dr. Strangelove and Seven Days in May), only to virtually disappear again from the screen until the Clintonian era of the 1990s via Nixon, Air Force One, The American President, Absolute Power, and Dave.
During the 1970s, audiences found mini-series about presidents on network TV (“The Final Days,” “Washington: Behind Closed Doors”), but network programs were susceptible to pressures and demands from advertisers. While Aaron Sorkin’s popular “West Wing” series on NBC featured Martin Sheen’s sympathetic leader, the massive growth in cable TV and streaming services eroded advertiser power. As a result, writers and directors used their newfound freedoms to create highly complex and not entirely positive presidential portrayals (Netflix’s “House of Cards” and HBO’s “VEEP”).
Join Alvarez for an illuminating and entertaining lecture that includes Dueling Nixons (Anthony Hopkins, Frank Langella, and Kevin Spacey) and Dueling LBJs (Bryan Cranston and Woody Harrelson). No need to be a member of the White House Press Corps to gain entry.
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