Politics wasn’t something I cared about much as a kid, but there were two politicians who still managed to stick with me. The first was Ronald Reagan, the most visible President the country had ever seen. He was always all over the TV. And the second was Gary Hart, a charismatic figure who had the country in the palm of his hand. I remember him because he was this larger than figure, and then the next day he was just gone. I didn’t understand it at the time but he was victim to the changing landscape of news media and the way politics is covered. If you want an idea of how our current 24-hour news cycle began, Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner is a good place to start.
Hugh Jackman stars as Gary Hart, the Democratic frontrunner for the 1988 U.S. Presidential election. Reitman’s film picks up mere days before the Donna Rice scandal that would rock Hart’s campaign, and follows his efforts to understand a tabloid media that nobody had ever dealt with before. Of course, since there has never been a President Gary Hart you probably know how this story ends, and Reitman takes a fascinating look at the forces which drive this political giant into the shadows.
Also starring J.K. Simmons, Vera Farmiga, Alfred Molina, Ari Graynor, Kaitlyn Dever, Bill Burr, Sara Paxston, Kevin Pollak, and Mamoudou Athie, The Front Runner opens November 6th. Be sure to watch out for my interview with Jason Reitman and the film’s screenwriters.
