The Collison of Politics, Celebrity and the Media: Barry Levinson Goes To “PoliWood”

What Levinson also finds frightening is the political division in America, where issues that should never fall into the left/right, Democrat/Republican divide, do. “I mean, the idea that education or arts in the schools has become a political issue seems insane,” he argued. “It’s like, what, we’re opposed to music programs in school? Does that have to do with being a Republican or a Democrat? We are facing a potential catastrophe in terms of our environmental issues, and it becomes a left or right issue? I always say to someone who says that no one has really confirmed that there’s global warming: ‘Well, guess what, what happens if there really isn’t global warming? What would be the downside? We cleaned up the environment for no reason? Oh my god! How can that be political? It became that because it’s much more entertaining.’”

For “Poliwood,” the biggest challenge for Levinson was a different kind of division. “The challenge is to bring all these elements together and have some cohesiveness, without imposing too much on the piece,” he explained. “I want it to be free and loose with people meandering into things and talking about stuff. There’s a casualness about it.  But at the same time, it can’t be so casual and so meandering that it’s all over the place. So you have to be able to give it a little more coherence, without ultimately beginning to bend it one way or another.”

An interesting footnote to the film came a few weeks ago, when Kal Penn - best known as an actor on televison series “House” and in movies like “Harold and Kumar” and “The Namesake” - quit Hollywood to take a job at the Obama White House as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. He’s certainly not the first celebrity turned politician, but the most recent to personify the collison at the heart of Levinson’s documentary. 

“I mean, look, there’s a lot of people in the entertainment business that have political aspirations and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Levinson said when asked to comment on Penn.  “At the end of the day, no matter what field you’re in, sometimes you’re a concerned citizen. Sometimes you can work within the government and you think that’s a way to be helpful, then I think that’s great.”

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“Poliwood” screens Friday, May 1, 6:00 pm at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center.  Following the screening, MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O’Donnell will lead a discussion about this convergence of politics and Hollywood with Levinson and actors Josh Lucas, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tim Daly, Lynn Whitfield, Tony Goldwyn, Robert Davi and Matthew Modine, who all appear in the film. Previous Page 2 of 2 Login to recommend this article » posted on April 24, 2009 Films to Snag Comments 1 submarginal says on April 30, 2009 at 1:41pm PoliWood will be screening at the Maryland Film Festival on Sunday May 10th @ 5:00 PM in the MICA Brown Center’s Falvey Hall. Barry Levinson will host the screening. Info at http://www.mdfilmfest.com/films.cfm. Login to Leave a Comment »