Wag the DogIn a 29-day shoot,
Barry Levinson filmed this $15 million political and media satire, adapted by
Hilary Henkin and
David Mamet from
Larry Beinhart's novel, American Hero. Two weeks prior to re-election, the President (
Michael Belson) is accused of cornering an underage girl in the Oval Office. To keep the media from learning of this, Presidential adviser Winifred Ames (
Anne Heche) brings in political consultant and spin doctor Conrad Brean (
Robert De Niro), a specialist in such salvage operations. Brean suggests fabricating denials of non-existent emergencies -- such as denials about the B-3 bomber. The denial, of course, is true, since no B-3 bomber exists. Brean visits the mansion of Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (
Dustin Hoffman) and gives him the assignment to create a patriotic campaign centered around a war in Albania. Motss assembles a creative team -- Liz Butsky (
Andrea Martin), the trend-setter Fad King (
Denis Leary), and songwriter Johnny Green (
Willie Nelson). Treated like an ad campaign, the songs and symbols are transmitted directly from a Hollywood soundstage to CNN. The star of their campaign is a "rescued" pilot -- in reality, a psychotic military prisoner (
Woody Harrelson), who's a ticking time bomb. The flag-waving song, "The American Dream" was written for the film by
Tom Bahler (who co-wrote "We Are the World"). Beinhart's original novel involved a real President (Bush), a real war (the Gulf War), and the premise that George Bush and Saddam Hussein staged it. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
