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MONICAGATE: THE MOVIE | PAGE 1, 2
Let's talk for a bit about the characters, point of view and motivation, etc. Start with Bill. Bill Clinton is most interesting if you can build him up as a sympathetic character. The pressures of the office are so great that the quick sexual release really calms him down for the next crisis. And he's sympathetic with his animals and his family. How about casting? Alec Baldwin? Baldwin makes sense. Also Travolta because he's identified with the character. But in "Primary Colors" Travolta really lost the audience's interest because he was such a barnyard stud, and a much worse performer than Clinton. But in the audience's mind he's already associated with that character. You always have to consider audience expectations. Hillary? Well, we've gone over Hillary. She's even more sympathetic, and it's her patriotism and her devotion to the family that motivates her. Meryl Streep is a slam dunk for that part. And what does Chelsea think of all this? She's struggling with all these comments people are making about her father. And at a point when she should be basking in the glory of having the ultimate dad. How would you cast her? That's difficult -- I'd want someone who looks like a younger Calley Khouri, the writer of "Thelma and Louise." I don't know the new stars or actors very well. Monica? She's a major character. You could make her anything you want her to be. Because to Bill she's just an object in the story. She could just be an unassuming clerk, and then she finds herself the object of the president's attention. Monica in the movie could be much more sympathetic than the image in the news, because you could really make her an innocent here. How about Neve Campbell as Monica? She could do that thing where she goes on an ice cream diet and gains a lot of weight to prove she's a serious actress. Neve Campbell makes sense because she could be the innocent in any story you tell. She turns into a real starfucker without even realizing it. Linda Tripp? Linda Tripp is really the most interesting supporting character you can have. She's out to get something. Bill Clinton did something to her, or maybe she just thinks he did something -- we don't have to figure that out now. But she has never forgiven or forgotten, and if she gets that opportunity to bring him down, she will. But you'd have to build up the relationship between her and Monica. When Clinton pushes her away, she's drawn toward Tripp. It's an odd friendship -- Linda sets herself up as a wise counselor, a mentor, a mother figure. And Monica's own mother seems to be so immature. How would you cast Tripp? That's a tough one. I would say, offhand, maybe Treat Williams. Everybody always wants to cast a man as Linda Tripp! That's just how it has to be. Maybe Bill Paxton. He's got a much softer side to him than Treat. Drudge? Drudge is really the easiest character because he's got the purest motivation. He wants to make himself famous, and he's just going to go after that like a dog going after a bone. He's very straightforward, and a reporter always makes a good character. And he can always say as a journalist he feels it's the public's right to know these things. My casting choice for Drudge would be Vince Gallo, who just starred in "Buffalo 66." What about Starr? Would you play up the Richard Mellon Scaife angle and try to make it a conspiracy thing? Starr just wants to find out what's going on. Richard Mellon Scaife, etc., are really minor things that you don't figure out in the beginning of the screenplay. So with him, he'd just be trying to find this out. And like everybody, he wants to get his time in the limelight. I think Robert Duvall would be great as Starr. Like Duvall's character in "The Apostle"? Exactly. Given that President Clinton was having troubles even before Monicagate broke, and that new and unpleasant details continue to surface, where would you choose to begin and end the script? Well, Act I would be the budding romance between the president and Monica; that would include all the little details from when they were flirting -- the little signals they send, the gifts they exchange. That aspect of it is just so rich with details you can set up -- the dress, and the tie that Monica gave Bill. All of those are set-ups that of course get paid back later in the script. The plot point that ends Act I is their first sexual encounter -- whatever it turns out their sexual encounter was. Act II would be their affair, and the midpoint of Act II would be its discovery. You mean the Linda Tripp taping and all that? Yes. That would make an exciting midpoint for the act. I love the name Linda Tripp. You couldn't have a better name for that character. The second half of Act II is the investigation -- the charges and denials. For Monica, there's an important interior movement in this part, because it also involves her denial of the reality of their relationship. He used words that made her think there was more to the relationship than there was, which would explain her taped conversations. The second plot point would be when Clinton agrees to testify. Act III is taken up with all the permutations between him and his staff -- the definition of sex, etc. What's our ending scene? I think you just go back and show his speech again. This time we would see it knowing what the family's been through, and as he starts off, "My fellow Americans, I have something to tell you," and so on, you fade out, and run the credits over his speech. Only now it's got more resonance because we've seen the whole story? The other alternative would be to show the missiles being launched at the terrorists. But then it becomes a different movie. Right. I would end it by showing the speech again. SALON | Aug. 31, 1998 Simpleton honcho Tim Cavanaugh uncovered the secret Clinton/Starr chat-room transcripts in Feed. |
