'Recount' Screening Brings Back Memories, Evokes Anxiety
Laura Dern arguably steals the show in "Recount," the upcoming HBO flick about the contested 2000 presidential election. And after sitting next to Dern at a private screening of the movie Tuesday night, we know who her biggest fan of all is: her husband, Ben Harper, the Grammy award-winning soul/folk/funk musician who laughed riotously at his wife's every scene.
Gov. Jeb Bush, left, and Secretary of State Katherine Harris during the 2000 Florida recount. (Associated Press)
Dern plays the colorful Katherine Harris, who, as secretary of state of Florida, tried to call the state's presidential election -- and thus, the entire contest -- for her friend George W. Bush. After many twists and turns the dispute over the recount was eventually decided, in Bush's favor, by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dern does a spot-on, if slightly over-the-top Harris, who, as a congresswoman after her secretary-of-state stint, was one of the most lampooned members of the House.
Dern and Harper were seated at the table next to the Sleuth at a dinner and screening in a huge backyard tent at the home of Washington Post icons and uber power couple Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee. After dinner, we turned our chairs to face the big screen and watch the movie -- Dern and Harper sat together directly in front of us, just a few inches away.
Harper laughed and stroked his wife's arm and kissed her shoulder during her scenes, which often involved an accentuated voluptuous and hilariously sexually suggestive version of secretary of state Harris primping for the cameras, relishing her role in the limelight of the recount. The portrayal wasn't far off from reality.
In one scene in the movie, Dern as Harris compares herself to Queen Esther in the Bible: "She was willing to sacrifice herself to save the lovely Jewish people and that is exactly what I am doing right now." The tent exploded in a chorus of laughter, led by top fan and hubby Harper.
Harris, who lost her race for the Senate in 2006, was not at the screening. But plenty of other real-life characters were, along with the actors who played them, including: Ron Klain, the former chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, and Kevin Spacey, who stars as Klain; Bush-Cheney 2000 lawyer Ben Ginsberg and actor Bob Balaban who was perfectly cast for the role of Ginsberg; and Gore-Lieberman 2000 lawyer David Boies, who argued for the Democrats before the Supreme Court. We didn't see Ed Begley who plays Boies.
Len Amato, the film's executive producer, was there, and Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), were among the political glitterati who attended along with dozens of journalists, political strategists in both parties and talking heads -- most notably Pat Buchanan, who -- remember? -- was on the presidential ballot in 2000.
For those who were in the trenches of the Florida recount battle, the movie was like a shot of anxiety.
Boies told "Recount" screenwriter Danny Strong, who was also at the screening, that he was on the edge of his seat the whole time. And the movie does do a great job of capturing every anguishing moment and surprising twist and turn in the counting, stopping and recounting of the ballots whose chad, both dimpled and hanging, became a hallmark of the election.
But neither Tom Wilkinson, who plays James Baker, nor Baker himself showed up. (But we hear Baker is pleased with the movie and will even be hosting a joint screening of "Recount" with former President Jimmy Carter; Baker and Carter served together on the post 2004 Commission on Federal Election Reform. Baker's daughter plays a bit role in "Recount.")
Veteran newsman Tom Brokaw was there, too. Brokaw appears in the film as himself, in archive footage, anchoring the NBC news on Election Day 2000 with one of the more memorable lines from that night as networks had to retract calling the state for Gore: "The networks giveth and the networks taketh away."
David A. Kaplan, author of the book "The Accidental President" about the Florida recount debacle, was also there. Kaplan, who was a paid consultant on the movie, tells us he thought the movie "was nuanced and nicely captured that neither side exactly had the moral high ground it claimed to have. Bush's team, and Gore's, both made political calculations and the movie portrayed that."
By Mary Ann Akers |
April 30, 2008; 1:06 PM ET
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Posted by: Anonymous | April 30, 2008 2:33 PM
I was looking forward to seeing "Recount". However, after hearing that James "Let's Steal The Election" Baker has endorsed it, I'm not so sure.
Posted by: Steve Nesich | April 30, 2008 5:58 PM
Sounds cool. Who is playing the goofy guy with the big glasses who holds up the voter card staring at it, looking for chads?
Posted by: Pennsylvania is Clinton Country | April 30, 2008 7:23 PM
Wait. Aren't you going to remind us again how the Post, the Times, and (I think) the St. Petersburg newspaper did there own recount - with the goal of demonstrating that the election was stolen - and they found that no matter how the votes were counted, that Bush won????
Posted by: RichA | April 30, 2008 10:25 PM
Oh wait, *now* I remember. The Post has totally buried that story, instead repeatedly printing quotes saying that the election was stolen...
In other cases where a quote is demonstrably inaccurate, the Post tends to put in counter-statement. Why not in this case?
Posted by: RichA, again | April 30, 2008 10:31 PM
Sorry Rich
The election of 2000 was stolen, and not just once. The first time was when some 28000 voters, mostly minorities who voted Democratic, were disenfranchised because their names resembled those of convicted felons. The second theft occurred when Harris ignored the law requiring a recount, and simply passed the ballots through the automatic vote counters again.
A hand recount would have spotted the cases where a voter marked the write-in box and put in the name of his choice (4000 such votes for Bush, 7000 for Gore).
The third theft was the actual recount, which could have gone either way (although the WSJ reported that the Supreme Court's solution would have given it to Gore regardless of the choice of which faulty chads to count).
Posted by: JoeG | April 30, 2008 11:46 PM
Former Vice President Al Gore is the REAL winner of the 2000 presidential election. The people rule supreme in America, and the people elected Vice President Gore as our president! To all those who would say otherwise, you're all just blowing hot air and nothing else! You can't hide from the truth, and you know what the truth is! The American people voted for Vice President Gore over Governor Bush in 2000, and you all know that damn well, so get over yourselves and accept that fact, accept reality! The Supreme Court unconstitutionally helped Bush steal the election away from the real victor, Vice President Gore! Anyone who says this isn't true has there heads stuck in the sand and is crazy and insane and needs to face reality! We should be addressing Vice President Gore as President Gore!
Posted by: A Proud Patrioric American | April 30, 2008 11:48 PM
Does anyone eat chads in the movie? I've always wanted to know what the expressions were on their faces when the democrat election officials were sitting in the ballot counting rooms eating the evidence.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 1, 2008 10:42 AM
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Posted by: votenic | May 1, 2008 11:22 AM
It is sadly ironic that Recount would air in the midst of a recount in Zimbabwe, where being thrown under the bus, to use a campaign 2008 buzz word, might be preferable to what is happening to those who voted against Zanu PF.
Does anyone in America know where Zimbabwe is or is our xenophobia showing from beneath our Brooks Brothers and chiffon.
Posted by: MackAA | May 1, 2008 11:46 AM
"Wait. Aren't you going to remind us again how the Post, the Times, and (I think) the St. Petersburg newspaper did there own recount - with the goal of demonstrating that the election was stolen - and they found that no matter how the votes were counted, that Bush won????"
This is a lie. Republicans are pretty good at injecting these lies into the political bloodstream.
This is from the Media Consortium report:
Table 1
Candidate Outcomes Based on Potential Recounts in Florida Presidential Election 2000
Review of All Ballots Statewide (Never Undertaken)
Review Method
*Winner Margin of Victory*
Standard as set by each county Canvassing
Board during their survey *Gore 171 votes*
Fully punched chads and limited marks on
optical ballots *Gore 115 votes*
Any dimples or optical mark *Gore 107 votes*
One corner of chad detached or optical mark *Gore 60 votes*
More people voted for Gore in Florida than voted for Bush, and this doesn't begin to count to the overvote issues.
Posted by: Egilsson | May 1, 2008 2:55 PM
Implicit in Democrats' furor over the Florida recounts is the notion that the world would somehow be better off if George W. Bush had not won the election. I challenge anyone to read the new book, A Time Like This, http://www.atimelikethis.us before they make that argument.
Posted by: T for 2000 | May 1, 2008 3:14 PM
Chads are tasty. They taste like freedom.
Posted by: Florida Democrats | May 1, 2008 5:44 PM
McLean, Virginia
It's long overdue to see the evil Wicked Witch of Tallahassee portrayed by a good artist. I just pray that Laura Dern has enough ruby lipstick and a few Dalmations handy.
May George W. Bush live in infamy.
Posted by: Paul Matthews | May 1, 2008 6:39 PM
I just pooed.
Posted by: Paul Matthews | May 2, 2008 10:34 AM
I make stinky
Posted by: Paula Matthews | May 6, 2008 5:27 PM
Check out www.RecountMovie.com for more info about Recount!
Posted by: RecountMovie.com | May 14, 2008 8:20 PM
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