HBO says no political agenda behind Palin film

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — In a politically polarized country, the people behind HBO's upcoming movie on Sarah Palin's vice presidential campaign are being careful not to take one side or the other.

"There is no agenda here," Danny Strong, writer of the film "Game Change," said at a news conference Friday. Filmmakers said they sought historical accuracy.

The movie debuts March 10. It is based on John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's book about the 2008 presidential campaign, but focuses specifically on Palin. Director Jay Roach said he wrote a long letter to the former Alaska governor seeking an interview with her to help the film, "but I got a very quick email back from her attorney saying, 'I checked, she declined.'"

Roach and Strong were the team behind HBO's Emmy-winning "Recount" about the disputed 2000 presidential election.

"I don't think this movie is going to change people's minds one way or another," Strong said. "People are very polarized. It's not designed to change people's minds."

Actress Julianne Moore looks strikingly like Palin in her depiction. Asked what she thought of Palin after getting so close to the story, Moore said she had "profound respect" for the historical nature of the candidacy.

"There was a tremendous amount of pressure," Moore said. "That was what I was trying to capture, the pressure that she was under."

Actor Ed Harris portrays John McCain. Although the resemblance to his character isn't quite as sharp as Moore's, it's pretty close.

One unusual casting was Woody Harrelson, who plays McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. The film's story is largely seen through Schmidt's eyes. Harrelson, who describes himself politically as "probably more an anarchist," said he met Schmidt and liked him.

"The concept of playing this guy who I think ideologically couldn't be any farther away from me felt like a real challenge," he said.

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No political dustups for Cheney on 'The View' (AP)

NEW YORK – The rough, tough ladies of "The View"? No problem for former Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney was on the daytime show Tuesday promoting his new memoir, "In My Time," and there were no fireworks. "The View" hosts, particularly Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, are often combative with guests they disagree with politically.

All Goldberg wondered was where Cheney had been during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Behar asked if the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would have gone differently if it wasn't an all-volunteer army, and Cheney said that "you have to deal with the world the way you find it."

Behar was buffered; Cheney's wife, Lynne, sat on "The View" couch between him and Behar.

"Are you scared to be alone with us?" Behar said. "You brought your wife."

Cheney didn't reply.

The toughest question came from veteran newswoman Barbara Walters, who asked Cheney if the Iraq war was worth it given the human and financial costs. Cheney said it was, then stopped Walters cold when she tried to interrupt to introduce a commercial.

"I listened to the question," he said. "I get to give the answer, Barbara."

Cheney opened his suit jacket to show the battery and control panel to his heart pump, both of which were stored in his vest pockets. He said he hadn't decided whether he wants a heart transplant.

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George Clooney rules out political bid in US (AP)

VENICE, Italy – Idealism loses out to cynicism in George Clooney's political drama "The Ides of March," which opens the Venice Film Festival.

Clooney directs and acts in the political drama that features Ryan Gosling as a gung-ho press secretary swept into a sex scandal in the final days of a Democratic presidential primary in Ohio. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are rival campaign managers who use loyalty as a weapon in their epic battle for victory.

Marisa Tomei plays a Times reporter angling for scoops on the campaign trail. And Evan Rachel Wood, a pretty campaign volunteer eager to play in the big leagues, is yet another figure giving female political interns a bad rap.

Clooney's idealistic presidential candidate, Pennsylvania Gov. Mike Morris, has a straightforward platform: He's nonreligious but defends the freedom of religion. He also opposes the death penalty and wants to phase out internal combustion engines to reduce American dependence on foreign oil.

Clooney plays the presidential candidate, but told reporters at the festival Wednesday he is not looking to be one in real life.

"As for running for president, look, there's a guy in office right now who is smarter than almost anyone you know, who's nicer and who has more compassion than almost anyone you know. And he's having an almost impossible time governing. Why would anybody volunteer for that job?" Clooney told a news conference.

"I have a really good job. I get to hang out with very seductive people. So I have no interest," Clooney said.

For Clooney, the film wasn't so much a political movie as a morality tale, exploring the question of whether the ends justify the means. The political arena "raised the stakes," a relaxed and jocular Clooney said, but the questions the film poses reside in many areas of life.

"You could literally put this in Wall Street, or you could put it pretty much anywhere. It's all the same sort of issues. It's issues of morality. It's issues of whether or not you are willing to trade your soul for an outcome," Clooney said.

In the film, many characters use seduction to get what they want: to get closer to power, to undermine the other campaign, to win political backing.

Giamatti called his character "an unabashedly seductive guy." His play to recruit Gosling's character to the rival campaign opens the film's exploration of loyalty and friendship in politics.

"My character is all about seduction ... the whole game of politics is a kind of sexy game in America, and I think (the movie) portrays it really well," Giamatti said.

And while Clooney and his fellow actors are willing to concede that Washington and Hollywood may share seduction and power as common currency, that doesn't mean the stakes are the same. Hollywood, they suggested, commands a disproportionate amount of popular attention.

"I do think there is a huge difference between Hollywood and Washington, you know, and what we are responsible for and what influence we wield. I think sometimes it gets forgotten, that the people who are governing us have a much more important position," Hoffman said.

The film's title — "The Ides of March" — highlights its undercurrent of betrayal. In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, a soothsayer warns the leader of imminent betrayal with the line "beware the ides of March."

"We thought that some of these themes seemed to be somewhat Shakespearean," Clooney said. "We will leave it up to people to decide who is Cassius and who's Brutus and who's Julius Caesar. Everyone has different points of view."

It is hard to shake off the film's ultimate cynicism, which seems to reflect the current mood and gridlock in U.S. politics. But perhaps such a movie requires a cynical moment. Clooney said he shelved the movie in the face of brimming optimism following the 2008 election of President Barack Obama.

"It took about a year, and that was over," he said, with irony.

Still, he expressed hope that this, too, will pass.

"Cynicism seems to be winning over idealism right now. I think it will change. I hope it will change. Soon," Clooney said.

Clooney, who has a villa in northern Italy on Lake Como, is a familiar face at the Lido. He's directed or acted in six films that have been shown in Venice since 2003, including "Good Night and Good Luck," `'Burn After Reading" and "Michael Clayton."

"The Ides of March" is Clooney's first directorial effort to headline the festival. It is vying for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 10.

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Analysis: Palin boosts political influence, buffers brand (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sarah Palin may not be officially seeking the Republican nomination for president, but she is making sure she stays within the party's public eye.

Whether visiting the Iowa State Fair the day before the closely watched Iowa "straw poll" or roaring into Washington at a motorcycle rally to honor veterans, Palin has orchestrated her appearances in the focus of the Republican faithful.

Her political fund-raising has lagged, but polls show the former vice presidential nominee has retained a strong core of support as she flirts with entering the presidential race -- and makes millions from books and television.

"She desperately wants to remain a national figure, who can engage on issues, who can have a real impact," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak, adding that Palin sees her role partly as someone who keeps party rivals honest.

Although she has not thrown her hat into the ring, Palin is third in the Republican nomination fight, according to polls compiled by Real Clear Politics, behind front-runner Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry, and narrowly ahead of Representative Michele Bachmann.

If she did enter, Palin would be the best-known Republican in the field, and one spared months of intra-party fighting, media scrutiny and expensive campaigning.

"Like every other Republican who potentially will run, she's keeping her name out there, keeping her brand name but generally staying out of the debate, to avoid making any mistakes," said Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer.

"At a minimum, she keeps the Palin brand name going for other reasons," he said.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee made a surprise stop at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines Friday -- scheduled neatly between a debate between declared Republican contenders and Saturday's Ames straw poll, an unofficial test of campaign strength.

"She's still contemplating whether or not she's going to run," said Ford O'Connell, who was an advisor on the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008. "Her appearance in Iowa, which is the center of the political universe, shows that she is politically relevant."

It was Palin's second high-profile trip of the summer to Iowa, which will hold the first contest of the Republican race for the nomination to oppose Democratic President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election bid. She is also due to speak to a Tea Party movement rally in Iowa early next month.

SEPTEMBER DEADLINE?

"I think there is plenty of time to jump in the race," Palin said at the fair Friday. "Watching the whole process over the last year certainly shows me that, yes, there is plenty of room for more people."

September would probably be her decision deadline. "I don't want to be perceived as stringing people along," she said.

Since John McCain made her his surprise vice presidential selection in 2008, Palin has made millions. She has become a contributor on Fox News Channel, written best-selling books and starred in a reality television show.

Palin also enhanced her political influence during the 2010 midterm election season by campaigning for candidates in congressional and state elections backed by the Tea Party grass-roots conservative movement.

Fueling speculation about her plans, the former Alaska governor reportedly bought a house in Arizona where she could base a campaign and has traveled overseas to boost her foreign policy credentials. On Memorial Day, she roared into Washington on a motorcycle and then embarked on her "One Nation" bus tour to historic sites along the East Coast.

However, Palin has slipped in one area essential to any political candidate -- the money race.

Palin's primary fund-raising committee, SarahPAC, raised a paltry $1.6 million in the first half of 2011, far below the amount needed to fund a campaign staff and travel the country.

Romney, the Republican money leader, raised more than $18 million in the second quarter alone.

Palin's appeal has also been usurped by Bachmann, a Tea Party movement leader who appeals to many of the same anti-Washington voters. Perry is also popular with Tea Party movement backers.

Palin's Iowa visit was not the first time this summer that her travels have stolen the limelight from declared Republican candidates. In June, Palin's went to New Hampshire on the day Romney launched his presidential campaign.

And she was in Iowa for the premiere of her documentary "The Undefeated" as Obama visited the state on June 28, the day after Bachmann announced there that she would run.

"She enjoys, in a way, big-timing the announced candidates. She enjoys going into markets where people are doing things and making them see that she's a bigger political figure," Mackowiak said.

(Additional reporting by John Whitesides in Des Moines; Editing by Kristin Roberts and Vicki Allen)

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