Focusing on Franken
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MJ: Will Al be able to make the transition from a radio host, who relies on humor to expose the hypocrisy of Right, to someone who can advocate for progressive issues?
ND: I think he is very suited to be a senator. You wonder how he would be as a governor or as a president. But for a senator the important thing is to vote and Al is so suited in his mindset to being that kind of a decision maker. He is very thorough. He does his homework. He has opinions about how he can improve things in this country and that is what you want your senator to be. He listens to people. I think people think of Al as somebody who is wound up in his own world of comedy. But he is not. He is somebody who has this split in his head. He is not exactly an entertainer as much as he expresses his feeling through jokes. And he uses it now as a way to talk about issues, but the issues are what really give him energy. I think that’s what you want a senator to be. He is not going to be somebody that is going to make the transportation systems work. He is not going to be a good governor in that sense, somebody who governs. He is going to be somebody who legislates. I think he is very suited for that.
MJ: Do you expect him to run in 2008?
CH: I don’t know yet. He has moved to Minnesota. He is very serious about it, but right now he is seeing if he is a viable candidate. He is doing everything that he would need to do to be a viable candidate. He is trying to raise money and really affect this election that is coming up.
MJ: If he gets on the campaign trail, can we still expect all the things that have made him famous. Will we still get the impersonations and uncensored jokes? Or will we see a different Al Franken?
ND: That’s sort of what our film is about. That is what we are all wondering. I think Al is wondering that.
CH: I don’t think Al can leave the humor behind. He will have to curtail himself somewhat, but I think he sees the power of telling stories and getting the messages across.
MJ: For many people, the closer they get to the inner workings of politics, the more jaded they become. But that does not seem to be the tone of your films at all. Are there still heroes in your version of politics?
CH: I guess we like to look for people who really want to do something good. They don’t end up being whole people or saints or anything. Everybody is a very human character, and Al is definitely one of them. But I think there are very few people in our world who stand up for the truth and try to do something good, and I think Nick and I saw that in Al. He looks for the truth in the situation, he is totally fallible and human, and makes mistakes, and everything else, but I think that makes him more interesting to people because he is that way but doesn’t lose his passion. I think that is what I saw in everyone when we made The War Room: that kind of idealism and hope that they could change things. And some people can hold on to that longer than others and those people are kind of precious.
ND: In the Clinton campaign and in Al himself there is a kind of idealism that is energizing and so it is good filmmaking material. And more than that, it is something you can believe in for a long stretch of time. I can’t imagine that Al could get jaded somehow.
MJ: As you said, your films become like history, and your perceptions of them change in hindsight. Has your own idealism lost some of its luster? Looking back at The War Room, do things that seemed idealistic now seem more calculated?
ND: In the 1960s there was a draft and now there isn’t. The draft mobilized an opposition that was amazing, the country was much more divided then it is now and much more passionate in its opposition to the war. I think we are making these kinds of films because we are hooked in to a kind of idealizing opposition that I think is sort of a given as long as there are going to be the George Bushs and Richard Nixons around. You don’t get tired of that, you don’t get jaded about those sorts of issues. Now, people don’t know really what they think about Iraq. They don’t know how to end it. In Vietnam it was clear we had to get the hell out of there. Today, what our goals are politically is much more unclear than they were in other times. And somehow you want to find guidance in the people who have ideals. And people who are clear headed about what to do.
MJ: If given the chance would you ever want to make a film about a conservative? Is it idealism that interests you or is it the larger process of what gets people into politics?
ND: I made a film about Ollie North. It was interesting to watch the process and all that, but there was something about it. You were tired at the end of the day. Filmmaking is hard work period, and it is long hours, but if you are energized by it, it is not hard. If you believe in the people that you are filming it is not hard. I found it very tiring to make that film. It is interesting but it doesn’t get your juices going.
MJ: So there was no idealism on that end?
ND: Oh Jesus, I don’t think so. It was very cynical. I actually like the guys who ran the campaign. They were interesting guys. Maybe they were motivated, but I don’t know. I always felt it was more about tactics than ideals. Whereas if there is anything that Al’s about, it’s making the world a better place.
Koshlan Mayer-Blackwell is a Mother Jones editorial intern.
http://www.mininova.org/tor/807661