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CNN Live Sunday

White House Wants Hollywood Involved in War on Terrorism

Aired November 11, 2001 - 15:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We're waiting for a news conference to take place in Beverly Hills between Hollywood executives and White House officials who have been meeting to find a way for Hollywood to help out in the fight against terrorism, and when that happens, we'll bring it to you live.

Certainly, the merging of the world of film with the world of politics is not without precedent. Its history is documented in the book, "The Power and the Glitter: The Hollywood/Washington Connection." Author Ron Brownstein, who's also an "L.A. Times" reporter is joining us now from our Washington bureau. Thanks for being with us today.

RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Yes, good afternoon.

CALLAWAY: Yes, we're waiting for this news conference. It should be interesting to hear what they have to say. This really isn't the first time we've seen Hollywood work with Washington politicians to try and aid in a war. For instance, in World War II, we saw a lot of I guess you could call them propaganda films.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes and in fact, all the way back to World War I. Really, I think the first serious engagement of Hollywood in politics was the enlistment of some of the early film stars, like Mary Pickford, to help sell war bonds in World War II.

In World War II, it was dramatically expanded -- and even before the country got into war. You know, during the late '30s and really right up and through Pearl Harbor, there was an enormous debate in the country about whether the U.S. should become involved in the conflict in Europe. Roosevelt -- President Roosevelt was trying to steer the country in that direction, and Hollywood made a number of films in that period that was sort of encouraging preparedness, encouraging intervention in the 1940, 1941 period, even before we got into war -- so much so that some of the isolationists in the Senate held hearings in the fall of 1941 about whether Hollywood was trying to stampede us into the war.

Those became somewhat moot when Pearl Harbor intervened in December 1941. But there is a history here. It was very widely employed in World War II and there may be some ways for Hollywood to again help this time.

CALLAWAY: But briefly, you should mention that some of the motivation was not patriotism when it came...

(CROSSTALK)

BROWNSTEIN: The famous -- the famous story -- you know, in the -- when Hollywood was first founded, it was vertically integrated. The studios owned the theaters -- the movie theaters or vice versa, and beginning in the 1930s, the Justice Department started to investigate whether those should be severed and separated.

In 1940, the Roosevelt administration issued a consent decree to temporarily allow the studios to maintain control of the movie theaters. And the story was at the time and really for decades after, that it would turn -- the deal was that Hollywood got to keep its theaters, and in return it would turn out movies trying to encourage the nation to accept intervention in World War II.

And in fact, from 1940 to 1941, the studios turned out three dozen movies in that one year that were later viewed as sort of pushing in that direction.

CALLAWAY: Well, we don't know what kind of negotiations are going on now. We hope it doesn't involve any anti trust investigations. But let's talk about what could be done now with this -- with this White House and this Hollywood that we see. Could we see public service -- public service announcements, documentaries -- what kind of discussions do you think could take place?

BROWNSTEIN: Well you know, I think they're going to give us more detail when they come out, because they've been pretty closed mouth so far. The Hollywood people have said they're interested more in talking about things like public service announcements, like messages that could accompany American movies abroad, perhaps documentaries.

Some of the administration people have said they're also interested in the content of feature films themselves. I think it's going to be a little amorphous. It's going to take a while to figure out exactly what might be useful here. You know, I think we really are in a situation trying to reach hearts and minds abroad more than at home.

A lot of what was done in World War II was to steer morale on the home front into why we fight -- the famous Frank Capra documentaries, for instance. I think at this time you look at the polls, we're seeing such overwhelming public support for this war because of the unique way that it began that that might be superfluous, and what we really need are ways to try to reach audiences abroad.

CALLAWAY: And you know, Ron, already we're seeing some changes. I think there have been some 45 films that have canceled their release, have even made some changes, altered the movies in some cases. Television shows that made some changes, so some cooperation going on.

BROWNSTEIN: Well these -- well some of that, though, may be the studios and the TV networks operating in their own economic and sort of political self interest and not wanting to put out stories that might offend the public in the wake of this.

Well, you know, it was said and I think quite accurately that this event -- extraordinary -- such an extraordinary, horrific event really outran the imagination of the -- of the screenwriters and the script writers, and what we've seen is a lot of confluence, this sort of thing that, you know, that we read in fiction, and there's a pulling back in that sense.

You know, it's also interesting that Bush is in a better position to do this, to reach out in this way than Republicans might have been in other administrations ...

CALLAWAY: Yes I was just going to ask you about that. Normally, you associate Hollywood with Democratic political candidates.

BROWNSTEIN: Really since the black list in the 1950s discredited conservatism in Hollywood, it has been a very Democratic-leaning community.

But Bush had a very -- has had a very unique relationship with Hollywood. He's not been nearly as critical of it as some other Republicans have been in the '90s. There was nothing, for instance, in his campaign like the speeches Bob Dole gave in '96 criticizing Hollywood. He's kept a much lower profile; and in fact, today Hollywood has been more likely to come under criticism from Democrats like Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton arguing that it's sending out the wrong kind of cultural message.

Bush has taken more of a First Amendment hands-off approach. He's been very staunchly against the idea of the Federal Trade Commission interfering to regulate advertising aimed at kids for violent or, you know, sexually explicit movies, which some Democrats have supported.

So he has had less overt conflict and it makes it a little easier, although it still is a pretty Democratic community, for him to reach out with some senior officials.

And it is a pretty high-level delegation. Karl Rove, his top political strategist in 2000 and Mark MacKinnon, who was his chief media adviser, are out there conducing this meeting.

CALLAWAY: Do you think there's any concern among Hollywood executives that the White House may exert some pressure on them to do some things that they perhaps don't want to do?

BROWNSTEIN: I actually -- you know, I think the pressure is more from the, you know, sort of the public and the situation here. Bush, as I said, has been very reluctant to sort of go out and point fingers and to really pressure Hollywood. Even Clinton and Gore were more overtly and publicly critical of them.

You know, I interviewed him last summer right before the Democratic Convention, and I asked him about Joe Lieberman who was then being put on the Democratic ticket and the kind of criticism he had of Hollywood. And Bush said flatly, "that's not my style. You know, I don't like to be out there in the way that, for example, Bill Clinton was after Columbine, raising questions about some of the messages from Hollywood."

So I think they're going to have a sort of behind the scenes, quiet, working together approach and to try to find practical areas where Hollywood can contribute. And that may be the problem, is finding more practical things.

CALLAWAY: Finding a way. But you know, Ron, you touched on it, and that is that Hollywood is certainly not a domestic industry. This is -- has -- Hollywood has an international region. Whatever is done there is seen all over the world and you touched that -- on that just a moment, and I want you to comment on that, but first I want to say that we're looking now at live pictures of President Bush arriving back home.

As we all know, he was at the World Trade Center site this morning for a ceremony, now arriving back. If you could talk over that for just a minute and tell us ...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Sure.

CALLAWAY: You know, about the international reach that Hollywood does have.

BROWNSTEIN: Oh, you know, it is an enormous reach. One a security analyst in a good book a couple of years ago said that the U.S. influences the world in two ways. We have hard power, which is what we're seeing in Afghanistan -- the extension of our military power -- and we have what he called "soft power," which is the extent of our culture reach and our cultural influence around the country.

These are enormously powerful images that our filmmakers send out. You know, years ago, when Solidarity was moving toward power in Poland, their election poster in that first free election was an adaption of Gary Cooper.

CALLAWAY: Ron, I hate to interrupt your important point here, but Jack Valenti, the president of the Motion Picture Association is now speaking at that news conference. We go to it live.

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