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Discussion
I feel like I've seen a lot of movies/shows where actors play fictional politicians, and the audience can tell they're being smarmy and disingenuous but the people in the movie seem completely oblivious to this. Frank Underwood comes to mind. I hate when movies and TV shows do this - treat the public in the movie as somehow way dumber than the viewing audience.
The opposite are actors who display true charisma in a role. Like you can totally understand why the people in the film would be drawn to them as politicians. Examples I thought of were:
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Meryl Streep in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
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Broderick Crawford in All The King's Men (1948)
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George Clooney in The Ides of March (2011)
What are some other examples of actors playing fictional politicians in a highly charismatic and believable way?
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Aiden Gillen in season five of The Wire.
Even the Clay Davis character, obviously a scumbag, but you can totally tell how he used charisma to rally his community around him.
Sheeit
I love how they say that, haha
They’re all if not at least clay Davis I remember being loosely based on the mayor or dc or Baltimore I forget which. The wire was so raw! You had a 20yr writer for the news and then a 20+yr detective and all the actors were mostly used locally or from still living characters based on them. Crazy barksdake is the preacher/white collar.
Clay Davis is basically Mark Ridley Thomas from LA
Does the Wire still hold up to today? Need something new to binge watch.
Yes it does, we still have all the same problems the show examines, and the writing, acting and production are all top notch.
Oh hell yeah
Yes, absolutely. The characters and interweaving storylines are incredibly well written, and sadly the social commentary is still very relevant two decades on.
Absolutely, the only things that have "aged" are things like the tech, the fact that they use pay phones, then burner phones, sms/pictures being new, etc. But that's not really aging badly, it just means the show is now set in another time ... 20 years ago. I rewatched the show a year or two ago and it's still one of the absolute best IMO.
Starts in Season 3, really. What makes him such a shit in Season 5 is because he was introduced as a reform candidate who seemed sincere a couple of seasons prior and became an ally to the wiretap team, only to then backtrack again and again on reform once he's actually Mayor, because he wants to run for Governor.
He was based on Martin O’Malley, who became mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland. Decently accurate
Jeremy Jamm, Parks and Recreation
You just got JAMMED!
Recently found out he was directly inspired by a specific real dude.
I absolutely hate that Leslie knope is the most unrealistic government employee in that show.
Chrisjen Avasarala the UN Secretary-General in The Expanse.
Her character is a careful manipulator, but she has also dealt with personal loss and maintains a level head (to the point of being cold and calculating sometimes), and is played with charisma by Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Sometimes I fall asleep to YouTube compilations of her swearing at people
I would not want to get on that character's bad side.
WHATEVER I GODDAMN LIKE lives in my head rent free.
She killed that role
Veep.
If people think politicians are like in the West Wing they're sorely mistaken.
They're just as ridiculous, dumb, and ignorant as everyone else. They just have a marketing team.
Veep is like the Scrubs of politicians. It's silly on the surface, but everyone that's worked that field says it's more accurate than the serious shows.
The Thick of It also wrote and created by Armando Iannucci is maybe slightly more grounded in real life, but both are excellent.
The Trump administration or the Boris Johnson government made the humour in these series almost redundant
Older British shows, but I'd recommend checking out Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister. They're comedies making fun of government and politicians, but honestly oftentimes they seem to hit close to home.
There isn’t a show out there that better depicts bureaucracy interacting with politicians than Yes, Minister. It’s one of my favorite shows.
I'm Canadian and Majored in Political Science in university. Our gov't system is pretty similar to how the British do things. What I've seen of Yes, Minister it seems pretty accurate haha.
I heard Yes, Minister was one of Margaret Thatcher's favourite shows, and I can see why.
My favourite anecdote about that series was a person hating on the show for it's extremely excessive profanity... then their opinion flipped when they actually became a career politician.
There wasn't enough swearing in the show.
This is how I assumed politicians acted in real life. Foul mouthed idiots with a lot of power and influence.
I would love for an its always sunny episode where the gang gets into politics and they fit right in
Garry Shandling in Iron Man 2 playing Senator Stern.
The Hunt for Red October, National Security Advisor Jeffrey Pelt. “Listen, I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing their lollipops. But it also means I keep my options open.”
The back and forth between him and the Russian ambassador is great too.
"Oh... no." *pauses* "You've lost another submarine?"
Senator Finister
Thank you for smoking.
Guy literally finds pet projects to exploit and virtue signal when the reality is he doesn't give two shits.
Where the hell did you find cancer boy?
If you are looking for a cancer boy, he should be hopeless. A gold fish carries around on oxygen....fucking hopeless
Why is America the greatest country on earth?
Our endless appeals system... Wait, are you writing that down? Joey, stop
Ronny Cox as senator kinsey in Stargate SG1
Indeed.
In the middle of my back swing?
Ronny cox as Cohagen in Total Recall
The American President - Yeah, Michael Douglas and his people are fun to listen to, but Richard Dreyfuss is so perfectly hateable.
Are you trying to say Dick Cheney didn't do the best Richard Dreyfuss impersonation of all time?! I'm shook! /S
The Dead Zone
The Wire. Unscrupulous and self-serving.
In the Loop
I had a new respect for Murray Vaughn’s portrayal of the the mayor of Amity Island once COVID hit
Zaphod Beeblebrox from Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.
"Zaphod? He's just this guy, you know?"
Threat level midnight
Martin Sheen. I could see some fascist holding up a baby as a human shield, no problem.
I'm guessing that's not from West Wing!
The Dead Zone.
Gives a whole new meaning to "Let Bartlet be Bartlet."
"No Future For Stillson"
That's a great movie, and he's really good in it, but I think he fits more in the former category from OP's post.
The Contender 2000.
Great movie! I'd vote Jeff Bridges in a second and Gary Oldman is about as realistic as they come. This might be the next movie I show my GF.
Robert Redford’s character in The Candidate (1972)
Now what?
I had vaguely remembered watching this movie and was trying to think of the name before posting, thanks for mentioning it, will watch again.
Another good political one from this era is The Parallax View. Dude gets assassinated in the opening scene on the Space Needle.
The Death of Stalin - all of them.
Paul Rudd's character on Parks and Rec has Trump kid hair:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VH2edfkZfM
If Covid taught us anything, it’s def the Mayor in Jaws.
Actually I agree the mayor in Jaws was very believable
West Wing
Martin Sheen- The West Wing
Alan Alda-The West Wing
Jimmy Smits-The West Wing
Honestly almost every actor that played any Politian(both Democrat and Republican) on the show over the 7 seasons was great.
John Travolta- Primary Colors
Heroes!
Michael Douglas and Richard Dreyfus play believable politicians in An American President.
Veep.
President Bartlett.
House of Cards is the answer.
Yep. The first couple seasons were absolutely brilliant. The behind-the-scenes scheming and plotting felt absolutely real to me.
Seriously. It was still dramatized but plausible. Themurder was innocuous compared to most TV dramas.
Ron Silver in Time Cop
pleasantville
Bob Roberts
Yes, Minister
Blazing Saddles
Utopia and hollow men from Australia
The wire, season 2-5 pretty much. Starts with the dicks and politics of that type of scene and then evolves.
Chris Rock in Head of State
Under the dome
Martin Sheen in The Dead Zone. Leonard Harris in Taxi Driver.
Tom Cruise in Lions for Lambs
The New Statesmen (UK comedy with Rik Mayall)
ID4
Here's a wonderfully realistic example:
Robert Redford in Michael Ritchie's The Candidate.
Disagree about house of cards. When he spoke to the camera, it let you know you’re getting an inside Look about his motivations that other people did not get. Not too long ago, politicians and celebrities had people around them to insulate them from being exposed for what they really are. Before Trump, politicians were not so transparently corrupt… and proud of it. interestingly enough, half of the US is smart enough to see it, and a large portion of the US is still “not smart enough see it” as you put it.
24
Idiocracy
Brain Dead. Mind controlling alien parasites were better representatives than the real thing.
I think you give the public to much credit. There are plenty of politicians who seem outwardly horrible and still get elected. See: Ted Cruz, Matt Gaetz, Loren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Mitch McConnell.
Frank Underwood is relatively tame in comparison.
Ikr? Those jokers have definitely committed the occasional murder. Cruz whacked at least 5 in the late 1960s that we know of.
Leaving his personal life out of this, I thought that Spacey in the first couple seasons of House of Cards was actually very good. I grew up in the Carolinas and interned with two different Representatives from the area in high school/college. They all talked in the same folksy manner while in the public eye and were much more cuthroat behind the scenes, like Frank. The character just went off the rails a few times in Season One and then entirely by Season Three. But I liked the stuff he did in the chamber and while negotiating with other elected officials/lobbyists.
I think it's mostly the accent for me, just seems like a Hollywood actor's idea of a Carolina accent. And when he's making public appearances he's displays zero charisma. Which of my friends, even those on the other side of the aisle, would actually vote for this dude?