The American President (film)
Encyclopedia
The American President is a 1995 romantic comedy film
directed
by Rob Reiner
and written by Aaron Sorkin
. It stars Michael Douglas
, Annette Bening
, Martin Sheen
, Michael J. Fox
and Richard Dreyfuss
. In the film, President
Andrew Shepherd (Douglas) is a widower who pursues a relationship with attractive environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Bening)—who has just moved to Washington, D.C.
—while at the same time attempting to win passage of a crime control bill.
Composer Marc Shaiman
was nominated for the Original Musical or Comedy Score
Oscar
for The American President. The film was nominated for Golden Globes
for best director
, best screenplay
, best actor in a comedy/musical
for Michael Douglas, best actress in a comedy/musical
for Annette Bening, and best comedy/musical motion picture. The American Film Institute
ranked The American President #75 on its list of America's Greatest Love Stories
.
) is introduced as an immensely popular Democratic
president from the state of Wisconsin
preparing to run for re-election. The President and his staff, led by Chief of Staff
A.J. MacInerney (Martin Sheen), attempt to consolidate the administration's 63% approval rating by passing a moderate crime control bill. However, support for the bill in both parties is tepid: conservatives do not want it, and liberals think it is too weak. If it passes, though, Shepherd's re-election is presumed by his staff to be a shoo-in, and Shepherd resolves to announce the bill, and the Congressional support to pass it, by the State of the Union.
With the President of France about to arrive in the United States to attend a state dinner
in his honor, Shepherd—widowed when his wife died of cancer three years earlier—is placed in an awkward predicament when his cousin, with whom he had planned to attend the dinner, gets sick.
The President's attention soon focuses on Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening
), just hired by an environmental lobbying firm to persuade the President to pass legislation committing his Administration to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions. During their first meeting, Shepherd and Wade are immediately intrigued by each other. At this meeting, Shepherd strikes a deal with Wade: if she can secure 24 votes for the environmental bill by the date of the State of the Union, he will deliver the last ten. Whatever his personal feelings towards Wade, he expresses this to his staff, especially the pragmatic A.J., as a sound political move. He believes Wade will not be able to get enough votes to meet her side of the deal, thus releasing Shepherd from responsibility if the bill fails to pass.
Later that evening, in a series of phone calls, Shepherd invites Wade to the state dinner. During the State dinner and subsequent occasions, the couple fall in love. When the Republican
presidential hopeful Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss
) learns "the President's got a girlfriend", he steps up his attacks on Shepherd and Wade, focusing on Wade's activist past and maligning Shepherd's ethics and his family values
. The President refuses to respond to these attacks, which drives his approval ratings lower and costs him crucial political support, without which his crime bill seems doomed to failure.
At the White House Christmas Party, Wade is dejected about her meeting that day with three Congressmen from Michigan
about the environmental bill and how it was a dismal failure; in the process, she inadvertently mentions to the President and McInerney that the Congressmen in question said the only bill they were more interested in defeating than the President's crime bill was Wade's environmental bill. Shepherd and McInerney are conflicted by this information as Wade clearly had no idea of the implications of this casual conversation, much less that they might actually use this information in their favor and against her environmental bill.
Eventually, Wade does manage to get enough votes to meet her part of the deal. However, in the meantime, Shepherd's team discovers he is exactly three votes short, with no other apparent options to acquire them except by shelving the environmental bill, thus solidifying the support of the three Congressmen from Michigan -- which he agrees to do. This results in disaster for Wade as she is immediately fired from her lobbyist job, as she failed to achieve her objectives, as well as seemingly jeopardizing her political reputation. She visits the White House to break up with Shepherd and says that she has a job possibility in Hartford, Connecticut
. He tells her politics is making choices, his number one priority has always been the crime control bill, and that he does not want to lose her over this. She congratulates him on getting the leverage to pass a crime bill that in no way will help fight crime. She concludes, "Mr. President, you have bigger problems than losing me -- you've just lost my vote."
On the morning that he is to deliver his State of the Union Address to Congress, he makes a surprise appearance in the White House press room and eloquently rebuts Rumson's attacks on Wade's past and his own values and character. He declares he will send the controversial environmental bill to Congress and that he is withdrawing his support for the weak crime bill, promising to write a stronger one in due time. His passionate and erudite defense of those things in which he believes, in contrast to his earlier passive behavior, galvanizes the press and his staff.
Shepherd declares he is "going over to her house and I'm not leaving until I get her back", but Wade enters the Oval Office before he can leave. The couple is reconciled and the President, accompanied by Wade, leaves to give his State of the Union Address. The movie ends with Shepherd entering the House chamber to thunderous applause.
and home video
.
The film was a critical success. It received praise and "Two Thumbs Up" from Siskel and Ebert who were surprised by how good the film was considering Rob Reiner's previous film, North
, was both of their selections for the worst movie of the year. Ebert said after detesting North he was very happy and pleased to give Reiner's next film a unanimously positive review. Siskel praised Douglas and Bening for their performances. According to Rotten Tomatoes
, 90% of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7/10, although its directors' decision to cast the similar-appearing Michael Douglas
and Martin Sheen as President and Chief of Staff, respectively, resulted in confusion among many viewers.
told TV Guide
he wrote while often high on crack cocaine
, inspired many aspects of his television drama The West Wing
. The two productions follow the staff of a largely idealized White House
, and like many of Sorkin's projects share ideologies. Even the set of the Oval Office
in The American President was later used in The West Wing.
The movie's influence can be seen most clearly in early episodes of The West Wing; some dialogue from the two are nearly identical. Sorkin has been known to say that much of the first season was actually taken from material he edited out of the first draft of The American Presidents script.
One of the issues touched on in the film and developed in the series relates to gun control bills, developed in "Five Votes Down
". While the bill is ultimately withdrawn by President Shepherd because it is ineffectual, on the series President Bartlet and his staff work hard to pass their bill even though it is badly flawed (and end up doubly unhappy when VP John Hoynes, whom the President and senior staff are feuding with, clinches the bill for them by persuading an influential southern Democrat to support it).
More significant is the issue of a "proportional response" to military attacks on American assets abroad. In The American President, Andrew Shepherd finds himself in the Situation Room
having to order such an attack against Libya's intelligence HQ after they bombed something called "C-STAD" (Capricorn Surface-To-Air Defense, a missile defense system) which had been positioned by the U.S. in Israel. He muses for a single line "Someday, someone's gonna have to explain to me the virtue of a proportional response," before giving the order. In "A Proportional Response
", President Bartlet
finds himself in similar circumstances (Syrian intelligence shot down a U.S. plane in Jordan and killed numerous Americans, including a young Naval officer who the President had decided would be his personal physician) and, seated in the White House Situation Room with his own National Security Council asks: "What is the virtue of a proportional response?" In both cases, the President chooses a military response that is relatively measured, but in the movie President Shepherd never considers a "disproportionate" response while President Bartlet plans such an action to destroy a huge civilian airport in Syria; he eventually OK's a strike similar to the one used in the movie.
The Global Defense Council, the fictional environmental lobby where Sydney Wade worked, is also featured in the West Wing episode called "The Drop-In
", and is often referred to in other episodes.
In The American President, Sydney Ellen Wade is ultimately fired from her lobbyist position because the president has brokered a deal that causes her legislative effort to fail. Similarly, in the final episode of the third season of The West Wing, Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman
uses the same tactic and ends up getting Amy Gardner
fired from her position at the Women's Leadership Conference. Josh and Amy are dating when this takes place, just as the main characters are here. However, on the TV series it is Amy who tries to scuttle a bill (welfare reform) and Josh refuses to accept the demands of three Florida GOP Congressmen because they amount to blackmail. His deal cannot be classified as a betrayal of Amy in the way President Shepherd's was of Sydney Wade.
The American President includes mention of a Governor Stackhouse, while there is a Minnesota
senator Howard Stackhouse (George Coe
) in the two West Wing episodes "The Stackhouse Filibuster
" and "The Red Mass
". In the same way, the French President attending a state dinner in The American President seems to be the same President d'Astier that is often referred to in the West Wing.
Several actors from The American President reappear in The West Wing, including Martin Sheen
(whose character in President, A.J., is at one point accused by Shepherd of lacking the courage to run for office himself) as President Josiah Bartlet
, Anna Deavere Smith
as National Security Advisor
Dr. Nancy McNally, Joshua Malina
as White House Communications Director
Will Bailey
, Nina Siemaszko
as Ellie Bartlet, Ron Canada
as Under Secretary of State Theodore Barrow, and Thom Barry
as Congressman Mark Richardson.
and Castle Rock Entertainment
. Castle Rock led the production process and Universal participated in financing and distribution. Universal distributed the film outside the U.S., and Columbia Pictures
distributed it domestically under its distribution contract with Castle Rock that existed between 1987 and 1999. After Time Warner
's acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System
(which owned Castle Rock), the film became part of the Turner Entertainment
library under WB. However, in terms of domestic distribution, Warner Bros. is responsible for sales and distribution. Universal has maintained international (i.e. outside of the U.S.) rights for the life of the film.
Originally, actor Robert Redford
approached a number of screenwriters with the single-line premise, "the president elopes." Sorkin's treatment was selected by Redford to write the screenplay with the expectation that Redford would star. When Reiner was brought aboard to direct, however, Redford dropped out. At the time, his publicist attributed Redford's decision to his desire "to do a love story, but (Reiner) wanted to do something that was ultimately about politics." Other sources suggested that Redford and Reiner "didn't get along, . . . It was a personality thing."
Redford's production company, Wildwood Enterprises, continued to have a production credit on the film.
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
and written by Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
. It stars Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
, Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
and Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
. In the film, President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Andrew Shepherd (Douglas) is a widower who pursues a relationship with attractive environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Bening)—who has just moved to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
—while at the same time attempting to win passage of a crime control bill.
Composer Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy...
was nominated for the Original Musical or Comedy Score
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for The American President. The film was nominated for Golden Globes
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for best director
Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture
This page lists the winners of and nominees for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Since its inception in 1943, it has been presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization composed of journalists who cover the United States film industry for publications based...
, best screenplay
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
, best actor in a comedy/musical
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
for Michael Douglas, best actress in a comedy/musical
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1950...
for Annette Bening, and best comedy/musical motion picture. The American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
ranked The American President #75 on its list of America's Greatest Love Stories
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Passions is a list of the top 100 greatest love stories in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 11, 2002, in a CBS television special hosted by American film and TV actress Candice Bergen.-The...
.
Plot
Andrew Shepherd (Michael DouglasMichael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
) is introduced as an immensely popular Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
president from the state of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
preparing to run for re-election. The President and his staff, led by Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
A.J. MacInerney (Martin Sheen), attempt to consolidate the administration's 63% approval rating by passing a moderate crime control bill. However, support for the bill in both parties is tepid: conservatives do not want it, and liberals think it is too weak. If it passes, though, Shepherd's re-election is presumed by his staff to be a shoo-in, and Shepherd resolves to announce the bill, and the Congressional support to pass it, by the State of the Union.
With the President of France about to arrive in the United States to attend a state dinner
State dinner
A state dinner is a dinner or banquet paid by a government and hosted by a head of state in his or her official residence in order to renew and celebrate diplomatic ties between the host country and the country of a foreign head of state or head of government who was issued an invitation. In many...
in his honor, Shepherd—widowed when his wife died of cancer three years earlier—is placed in an awkward predicament when his cousin, with whom he had planned to attend the dinner, gets sick.
The President's attention soon focuses on Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
), just hired by an environmental lobbying firm to persuade the President to pass legislation committing his Administration to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions. During their first meeting, Shepherd and Wade are immediately intrigued by each other. At this meeting, Shepherd strikes a deal with Wade: if she can secure 24 votes for the environmental bill by the date of the State of the Union, he will deliver the last ten. Whatever his personal feelings towards Wade, he expresses this to his staff, especially the pragmatic A.J., as a sound political move. He believes Wade will not be able to get enough votes to meet her side of the deal, thus releasing Shepherd from responsibility if the bill fails to pass.
Later that evening, in a series of phone calls, Shepherd invites Wade to the state dinner. During the State dinner and subsequent occasions, the couple fall in love. When the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential hopeful Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
) learns "the President's got a girlfriend", he steps up his attacks on Shepherd and Wade, focusing on Wade's activist past and maligning Shepherd's ethics and his family values
Family values
Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....
. The President refuses to respond to these attacks, which drives his approval ratings lower and costs him crucial political support, without which his crime bill seems doomed to failure.
At the White House Christmas Party, Wade is dejected about her meeting that day with three Congressmen from Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
about the environmental bill and how it was a dismal failure; in the process, she inadvertently mentions to the President and McInerney that the Congressmen in question said the only bill they were more interested in defeating than the President's crime bill was Wade's environmental bill. Shepherd and McInerney are conflicted by this information as Wade clearly had no idea of the implications of this casual conversation, much less that they might actually use this information in their favor and against her environmental bill.
Eventually, Wade does manage to get enough votes to meet her part of the deal. However, in the meantime, Shepherd's team discovers he is exactly three votes short, with no other apparent options to acquire them except by shelving the environmental bill, thus solidifying the support of the three Congressmen from Michigan -- which he agrees to do. This results in disaster for Wade as she is immediately fired from her lobbyist job, as she failed to achieve her objectives, as well as seemingly jeopardizing her political reputation. She visits the White House to break up with Shepherd and says that she has a job possibility in Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
. He tells her politics is making choices, his number one priority has always been the crime control bill, and that he does not want to lose her over this. She congratulates him on getting the leverage to pass a crime bill that in no way will help fight crime. She concludes, "Mr. President, you have bigger problems than losing me -- you've just lost my vote."
On the morning that he is to deliver his State of the Union Address to Congress, he makes a surprise appearance in the White House press room and eloquently rebuts Rumson's attacks on Wade's past and his own values and character. He declares he will send the controversial environmental bill to Congress and that he is withdrawing his support for the weak crime bill, promising to write a stronger one in due time. His passionate and erudite defense of those things in which he believes, in contrast to his earlier passive behavior, galvanizes the press and his staff.
Shepherd declares he is "going over to her house and I'm not leaving until I get her back", but Wade enters the Oval Office before he can leave. The couple is reconciled and the President, accompanied by Wade, leaves to give his State of the Union Address. The movie ends with Shepherd entering the House chamber to thunderous applause.
Reception
Upon its theatrical release, The American President proved to be only modestly successful at the box office with a worldwide gross of $108 million. However, in the years following its release, it has remained a favorite on cable televisionCable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
.
The film was a critical success. It received praise and "Two Thumbs Up" from Siskel and Ebert who were surprised by how good the film was considering Rob Reiner's previous film, North
North (film)
North is an American 1994 comedy film directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Dan Aykroyd, Reba McEntire, and Alan Arkin...
, was both of their selections for the worst movie of the year. Ebert said after detesting North he was very happy and pleased to give Reiner's next film a unanimously positive review. Siskel praised Douglas and Bening for their performances. According to Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, 90% of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7/10, although its directors' decision to cast the similar-appearing Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
and Martin Sheen as President and Chief of Staff, respectively, resulted in confusion among many viewers.
Cast
- Michael DouglasMichael DouglasMichael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
as President Andrew Shepherd - Annette BeningAnnette BeningAnnette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
as Sydney Ellen Wade - Martin SheenMartin SheenRamón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
as A.J. MacInerney, White House Chief of StaffWhite House Chief of StaffThe White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:... - Michael J. FoxMichael J. FoxMichael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
as Lewis Rothschild, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy - Anna Deveare Smith as Robin McCall, White House Press SecretaryWhite House Press SecretaryThe White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
- Samantha MathisSamantha MathisSamantha Mathis is an American actress. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in Pump Up the Volume , opposite Christian Slater...
as Jane Basdin, Personal Aide to the President - Shawna WaldronShawna WaldronShawna Langill Waldron is an American actress.-Career:Waldron was featured in a string of commercial roles before landing the part of Becky "Icebox" O'Shea, the only girl on an all-boys football team, in the movie Little Giants...
as Lucy Shepherd, the president's daughter - David PaymerDavid PaymerDavid Paymer is an American actor and television director, seen in such films as Quiz Show, Searching for Bobby Fischer, City Slickers, Crazy People, State and Main, Payback, Get Shorty, Carpool, The American President, Ocean's Thirteen, and Drag Me to Hell...
as Leon Kodak, White House Deputy Chief of Staff - Anne HaneyAnne HaneyAnne Haney was an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles as social worker Mrs. Sellner in Mrs. Doubtfire, Greta the secretary in Liar Liar, and for her unique, low-octave voice.-Career:...
as Mrs. Chapil, Secretary to the President of the United StatesSecretary to the President of the United StatesThe Secretary to the President was an old 19th and early 20th century White House position that carried out all the tasks now spread throughout the modern White House Office... - Richard DreyfussRichard DreyfussRichard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
as Senator Bob Rumson (RRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
-KSKansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
) - Nina SiemaszkoNina SiemaszkoNina Siemaszko is an American film and television actress.-Biography:Siemaszko was born Antonina Jadwiga Siemaszko in Chicago, Illinois to a Polish American father, a fighter in the Polish Underground who survived the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and an English mother...
as Beth Wade, Sydney's sister - Wendie MalickWendie MalickWendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles as Judith Tupper Stone on the HBO series Dream On , Nina Van Horn on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! , Ronee Lawrence on the NBC sitcom Frasier and Victoria Chase on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland .-Early...
as Susan Sloan - Beau BillingsleaBeau BillingsleaBeau M. Billingslea is an American actor and voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Jet Black from the popular anime Cowboy Bebop. In addition to voice acting, Billingslea has appeared in many popular TV series as a prolific guest actor...
as Special AgentSpecial agentSpecial agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
Cooper, United States Secret ServiceUnited States Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States... - Gail StricklandGail StricklandGail Strickland is an American character actress.Strickland was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the daughter of Theodosia and Lynn Strickland, who owned a tire shop...
as Esther MacInerney - Joshua MalinaJoshua MalinaJoshua Charles Malina is an American film and stage actor. He is perhaps most famous for portraying Will Bailey on the NBC drama The West Wing and Jeremy Goodwin on Sports Night.-Personal life:...
as David - John MahoneyJohn MahoneyJohn Mahoney is a British born American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer, father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr...
as Leo Solomon - Taylor NicholsTaylor NicholsCecil Taylor Nichols is an American actor best known for roles in the Whit Stillman films Metropolitan, Barcelona, and The Last Days of Disco. His characters in these films were insecure, stuttering sidekicks to those of the more outgoing Chris Eigeman...
as Stu
Influence on The West Wing
The screenplay, which writer Aaron SorkinAaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
told TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
he wrote while often high on crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
, inspired many aspects of his television drama The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
. The two productions follow the staff of a largely idealized White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, and like many of Sorkin's projects share ideologies. Even the set of the Oval Office
Oval Office
The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...
in The American President was later used in The West Wing.
The movie's influence can be seen most clearly in early episodes of The West Wing; some dialogue from the two are nearly identical. Sorkin has been known to say that much of the first season was actually taken from material he edited out of the first draft of The American Presidents script.
One of the issues touched on in the film and developed in the series relates to gun control bills, developed in "Five Votes Down
Five Votes Down
"Five Votes Down" is the 4th episode of The West Wing.Presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry needs five more House votes to pass a bill restricting the sale of automatic firearms—but the cost might be too high, especially if he has to go to the unpredictable Vice President to help put them over...
". While the bill is ultimately withdrawn by President Shepherd because it is ineffectual, on the series President Bartlet and his staff work hard to pass their bill even though it is badly flawed (and end up doubly unhappy when VP John Hoynes, whom the President and senior staff are feuding with, clinches the bill for them by persuading an influential southern Democrat to support it).
More significant is the issue of a "proportional response" to military attacks on American assets abroad. In The American President, Andrew Shepherd finds himself in the Situation Room
White House Situation Room
The White House Situation Room is a conference room and intelligence management center in the basement of the West Wing of the White House. It is run by the National Security Council staff for the use of the President of the United States and his advisors to monitor and deal...
having to order such an attack against Libya's intelligence HQ after they bombed something called "C-STAD" (Capricorn Surface-To-Air Defense, a missile defense system) which had been positioned by the U.S. in Israel. He muses for a single line "Someday, someone's gonna have to explain to me the virtue of a proportional response," before giving the order. In "A Proportional Response
A Proportional Response
"A Proportional Response" is the 3rd episode of The West Wing.- Plot :An angry President Josiah Bartlet seeks vengeance after Syrian operatives blow up a jet carrying his personal physician and dozens of American passengers...
", President Bartlet
Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet is a fictional character played by Martin Sheen on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is President of the United States for the entire series until the last episode, when his successor is inaugurated...
finds himself in similar circumstances (Syrian intelligence shot down a U.S. plane in Jordan and killed numerous Americans, including a young Naval officer who the President had decided would be his personal physician) and, seated in the White House Situation Room with his own National Security Council asks: "What is the virtue of a proportional response?" In both cases, the President chooses a military response that is relatively measured, but in the movie President Shepherd never considers a "disproportionate" response while President Bartlet plans such an action to destroy a huge civilian airport in Syria; he eventually OK's a strike similar to the one used in the movie.
The Global Defense Council, the fictional environmental lobby where Sydney Wade worked, is also featured in the West Wing episode called "The Drop-In
The Drop-In
-Plot:Leo tries to convince President Bartlet of the importance of supporting a missile defense plan. The episode begins with an important test where all of the technical systems work but the interceptor system misses the target missile--by 137 miles...
", and is often referred to in other episodes.
In The American President, Sydney Ellen Wade is ultimately fired from her lobbyist position because the president has brokered a deal that causes her legislative effort to fail. Similarly, in the final episode of the third season of The West Wing, Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman
Josh Lyman
Joshua "Josh" Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama The West Wing. For the majority of the series, he was White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Josiah Bartlet administration...
uses the same tactic and ends up getting Amy Gardner
Amy Gardner
Amelia "Amy" Gardner is a fictional character on the American television series The West Wing, portrayed by Mary-Louise Parker. Politically skilled and a strong advocate on feminist causes, the character holds various jobs throughout the timeline depicted on The West Wing, both in public-advocacy...
fired from her position at the Women's Leadership Conference. Josh and Amy are dating when this takes place, just as the main characters are here. However, on the TV series it is Amy who tries to scuttle a bill (welfare reform) and Josh refuses to accept the demands of three Florida GOP Congressmen because they amount to blackmail. His deal cannot be classified as a betrayal of Amy in the way President Shepherd's was of Sydney Wade.
The American President includes mention of a Governor Stackhouse, while there is a Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
senator Howard Stackhouse (George Coe
George Coe
George Coe is an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for having been a cast member on the first three episodes of Saturday Night Live, as well as for his work on various television shows.-Career:...
) in the two West Wing episodes "The Stackhouse Filibuster
The Stackhouse Filibuster
"The Stackhouse Filibuster" is the 39th episode of The West Wing.-Plot:It's Friday night; The West Wing is expecting a legislative victory with the passage of the Family Wellness Bill in the Senate, and the staff is preparing to leave for the weekend. Suddenly, an unexpected filibuster of the bill...
" and "The Red Mass
The Red Mass
"The Red Mass" is episode 69 of The West Wing.-Plot:Liberal third-party candidate Howard Stackhouse is becoming a thorn in Bartlet's side—and Amy Gardner is consulting for him...
". In the same way, the French President attending a state dinner in The American President seems to be the same President d'Astier that is often referred to in the West Wing.
Several actors from The American President reappear in The West Wing, including Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
(whose character in President, A.J., is at one point accused by Shepherd of lacking the courage to run for office himself) as President Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet is a fictional character played by Martin Sheen on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is President of the United States for the entire series until the last episode, when his successor is inaugurated...
, Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist in residence at the Center for American Progress.-Early life:...
as National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
Dr. Nancy McNally, Joshua Malina
Joshua Malina
Joshua Charles Malina is an American film and stage actor. He is perhaps most famous for portraying Will Bailey on the NBC drama The West Wing and Jeremy Goodwin on Sports Night.-Personal life:...
as White House Communications Director
White House Communications Director
The White House Director of Communications, also known as Assistant to the President for Communications, is part of the senior staff of the President of the United States, and is responsible for developing and promoting the agenda of the President and leading its media campaign...
Will Bailey
Will Bailey
William "Will" Bailey, is a fictional character played by Joshua Malina on the television serial drama The West Wing, holding various posts in the White House Office of Communications, Office of the Vice President and a backbencher Congressman .-Character biography:Will grew up in Belgium, as his...
, Nina Siemaszko
Nina Siemaszko
Nina Siemaszko is an American film and television actress.-Biography:Siemaszko was born Antonina Jadwiga Siemaszko in Chicago, Illinois to a Polish American father, a fighter in the Polish Underground who survived the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and an English mother...
as Ellie Bartlet, Ron Canada
Ron Canada
Ron Canada is an American actor. He began as a television newscaster during the 1970s in the Baltimore-Washington area mainly on WBAL-TV Channel 11 in Baltimore, until the early 1980s when he became an actor. He was a tour guide at NBC studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza...
as Under Secretary of State Theodore Barrow, and Thom Barry
Thom Barry
Thom Barry is an American actor, notable for playing Detective Will Jeffries in Cold Case since its first episode in 2003.Barry is from Cleveland, and in the early 1980s he was a DJ in Cincinnati...
as Congressman Mark Richardson.
Rights
The film was a production of Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
and Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros...
. Castle Rock led the production process and Universal participated in financing and distribution. Universal distributed the film outside the U.S., and Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
distributed it domestically under its distribution contract with Castle Rock that existed between 1987 and 1999. After Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
's acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...
(which owned Castle Rock), the film became part of the Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
library under WB. However, in terms of domestic distribution, Warner Bros. is responsible for sales and distribution. Universal has maintained international (i.e. outside of the U.S.) rights for the life of the film.
Originally, actor Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
approached a number of screenwriters with the single-line premise, "the president elopes." Sorkin's treatment was selected by Redford to write the screenplay with the expectation that Redford would star. When Reiner was brought aboard to direct, however, Redford dropped out. At the time, his publicist attributed Redford's decision to his desire "to do a love story, but (Reiner) wanted to do something that was ultimately about politics." Other sources suggested that Redford and Reiner "didn't get along, . . . It was a personality thing."
Redford's production company, Wildwood Enterprises, continued to have a production credit on the film.