THE BUSH YEARS are going to be tough on Hollywood.
No, it won't be because of attacks by culture warriors or regulatory agencies. The central problem, I suspect, will stem from the fact that Hollywood is suddenly irrelevant, and that's a bitter pill. Ever notice what happens to a narcissist when no one pays attention to him?
The thing about Dubya is that he doesn't notice. He went through college without noticing Vietnam. He's climbed to the top of the political world without noticing TV or movies.
Like Chauncey Gardner in "Being There," he doesn't seem to care what epoch he's living in and would just as soon not be reminded. Bill Clinton was a heat-seeking missile of pop culture. Dubya was delighted because two hot young movie stars attended his inauguration -- Bo Derek and Chuck Norris.
NO ONE SAYS PRESIDENTS have to be hip. Abraham Lincoln liked to hang with theater people, and look where that got him. It's just that presidents such as JFK and Clinton have spoiled us. They actually seemed to take an interest in their times. Sometimes too intense an interest.
Jerry Weintraub, the Bush family's unofficial ambassador to Hollywood, claims Dubya is misunderstood. He's actually seen a few movies, according to Weintraub.
On the other hand, the last time I saw a movie with Jerry Weintraub, he arrived with a bottle of Stolichnaya. "How did you like the movie?" I asked him during final credits. "What movie?" he replied.
Dubya may lack intellectual curiosity, but at least that's a trait that's hardly unique. So many of his other characteristics seem contradictory.
He's an Andover-Yale preppie descended from New England Brahmins who flaunts his Texas accent. He's not comfortable in a tux unless he wears boots with it. He likes the combat of politics, yet keeps lecturing about "civility."
If Dubya may not have a fix on exactly who he is, it's also clear he doesn't care. He ran for the presidency because he felt entitled to it. He won because the Supreme Court agreed with him.
Sometime in the next four years, he'll inevitably wander down to the White House screening room and request a new movie, perhaps "High Noon" or "Red River." He may even ask someone what's doing out in Hollywood, and that may be bad news. Trent Lott or Henry Hyde may get him all agitated about the terrible people making coarse and violent movies out here. They might even bring in Lynne Cheney to lecture him about moral decay. Then Jack Valenti would have to drop by and set him straight. He's good with Texans, having helped socialize Lyndon Johnson.
I can hear Valenti now. "Dubya," he'd say, "you've been misled about the state of Hollywood. To prove my point, I will not only set up a screening of Julie Andrews' latest movie, 'The Sound of Music,' I will get her to sit in the room with you and explain the plot."
That should do it. Hollywood will be ignored for another few years. And we should be grateful.
Contact Peter Bart at
peter.bart@variety.com