Barack Obama biographical film

[Silvermoth]

It's almost the end of Barack obama's presidency which will no doubt be a fasinating era for portraying in film one day (probably soon).

I find the best biographical films follow a short period rather than a persons entire life. So that in mind what would you like to see? I would be entranced by a movie that shows how Obama and Putin faced each other down during the Ukraine crisis. I could see denzel Washington and mads mikkelsen as the leads.

A film about marriage equality would also be super cool

What do you think?

 

[Eddie Dean]

Is the first option on the poll serious?

 

[Dark Raven]

Harry Lennix for Obama!

 

[Guts]

I voted for the martian movie.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Dwayne as Obama. At least he will nail the voice.

 

[Eddie Dean]

You know who really sounds like Obama? Peter Weller.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Joseph Fiennes for Obama.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I think the 2008 election would be good. I enjoyed Game Change.

There's the whole Hillary thing with the primaries, as well as the campaign controversies (Reverend Wright, the Birther nonsense) all that optimism... not to mention the disaster that was the McCain-Palin ticket.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Tina Fey for Palin !!

 

[dude stannis]

I want a Dwayne Johnson as Obama action movie.

 

[Silvermoth]

Is the first option on the poll serious?

S*** I am so sorry that was meant to be growing up in Hawaii but I made this poll when I was just waking up and I was thinking about the idiot stuff with his birth certificate. I am so sorry, I'll try to get a mod to change it right away

 

[Lencho01]

I want a Dwayne Johnson as Obama action movie.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I'm probably one of the few people who actually read Dreams of My Father... and it put me to sleep. I mean, honestly, who writes an autobiography at the age of 34? So I'm not crazy about the idea of a cradle to retirement biopic.

But to be fair, most modern presidents have lived fairly dull lives prior to coming to power.

 

[Drizzle]

I want a Dwayne Johnson as Obama action movie.

 

[dude stannis]

When Obama fights David Cameron:

 

[chaseter]

I'm probably one of the few people who actually read Dreams of My Father... and it put me to sleep. I mean, honestly, who writes an autobiography at the age of 34? So I'm not crazy about the idea of a cradle to retirement biopic.

But to be fair, most modern presidents have lived fairly dull lives prior to coming to power.

Who calls for a biographical film 7 years into a Presidency...

 

[DACrowe]

Two already exist:

Barry - This one basically sounds like an amalgamation of the first half of Dreams From My Father (childhood through Columbia undergraduate): http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/young-barack-obama-film-casts-869332

Southside With You - Barack's first date with Michelle Obama: http://deadline.com/2016/02/barack-...elle-miramax-roadside-attractions-1201700621/

Between the two, while "Southside with You" is already finished and had solid (if not mind-blowing) reviews from Sundance, at least "Barry" sounds mildly intriguing. It seems to be about the struggle many children of mixed backgrounds go through. Meanwhile "Southside with You" sounds like pure hagiography to the First Couple. Then again both of them probably are.

Point is, we are a ways off from a definitive Obama movie in the future.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Who calls for a biographical film 7 years into a Presidency...

Bush got one.

 

[Silvermoth]

Who calls for a biographical film 7 years into a Presidency...

Just about every president gets depicted in film sooner or later so why not? It's a good way to analyse whether or not a president did a good job and what their legacy is.

There's really no point to even coming in this thread if you just wanted to throw shade

 

[Silvermoth]

Damn, I wish I had out the assassination of Osama bin laden on the poll

 

[Matt]

Two already exist:

Barry - This one basically sounds like an amalgamation of the first half of Dreams From My Father (childhood through Columbia undergraduate): http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/young-barack-obama-film-casts-869332

Southside With You - Barack's first date with Michelle Obama: http://deadline.com/2016/02/barack-...elle-miramax-roadside-attractions-1201700621/

Between the two, while "Southside with You" is already finished and had solid (if not mind-blowing) reviews from Sundance, at least "Barry" sounds mildly intriguing. It seems to be about the struggle many children of mixed backgrounds go through. Meanwhile "Southside with You" sounds like pure hagiography to the First Couple. Then again both of them probably are.

Point is, we are a ways off from a definitive Obama movie in the future.

This is the way to go about it. A movie about Obama's election and presidency would be kind of boring. He was a candidate who was anointed by the media. Everything went right for him in the campaign. Even birthers simply built sympathy for him. The 2008 election was interesting due to the other actors involved (McCain's ineptitude, Clinton, Palin, etc). From Obama's perspective it was kind of a bore as the media would not let anything stick. 2012 was just dull. And his presidency has been kind of a dull, uneventful one as well. I mean, things have obviously happened (killing Bin Laden, the rise of ISIS, etc) but nothing really cinematic from his perspective. It's just been a dull presidency.

Now his early life seems to be where the juicy parts can be found. Problem there is that no one has really dug deep into it. He has had such a controlled image that it is hard to say what is true and what isn't (I don't speak of the birther nonsense, rather things like his relationship with his father, his involvement with Jeremiah Wright, allegations that he dealt drugs in college, etc). The truth of these matters probably are not as squeaky clean and drama free as his political handlers would like to act, but they probably also are not terribly cinematic either. In other words, as with most things, the truth is probably in the middle.

I think the most interesting way to make a movie about someone who will probably be remembered as a mid-tier, fairly competent, albeit place holder, president whose legacy and greatest accomplishment is simply being elected rather than anything he did in office, is by giving it the Oliver Stone treatment and just throwing reality aside and just embracing dramatic revisionism.

 

[Drz]

Make it about Obama bombing the doctor's without borders hospital, causing massive amount of deaths via drone strikes and his attempt to destroy civil rights and decency in Europe with his baby the TTP.

 

[chaseter]

Bush got one.

Who wanted it?

 

[chaseter]

Just about every president gets depicted in film sooner or later so why not? It's a good way to analyse whether or not a president did a good job and what their legacy is.

There's really no point to even coming in this thread if you just wanted to throw shade

His Presidency isn't even over and it's not been game changing or revolutionary. He's the status quo. The only interesting thing about his presidency was his 2008 campaign. A biography of his childhood would be more interesting than his standard political career.

 

[DACrowe]

This is the way to go about it. A movie about Obama's election and presidency would be kind of boring. He was a candidate who was anointed by the media. Everything went right for him in the campaign. Even birthers simply built sympathy for him. The 2008 election was interesting due to the other actors involved (McCain's ineptitude, Clinton, Palin, etc). From Obama's perspective it was kind of a bore as the media would not let anything stick. 2012 was just dull. And his presidency has been kind of a dull, uneventful one as well. I mean, things have obviously happened (killing Bin Laden, the rise of ISIS, etc) but nothing really cinematic from his perspective. It's just been a dull presidency.

Now his early life seems to be where the juicy parts can be found. Problem there is that no one has really dug deep into it. He has had such a controlled image that it is hard to say what is true and what isn't (I don't speak of the birther nonsense, rather things like his relationship with his father, his involvement with Jeremiah Wright, allegations that he dealt drugs in college, etc). The truth of these matters probably are not as squeaky clean and drama free as his political handlers would like to act, but they probably also are not terribly cinematic either. In other words, as with most things, the truth is probably in the middle.

I think the most interesting way to make a movie about someone who will probably be remembered as a mid-tier, fairly competent, albeit place holder, president whose legacy and greatest accomplishment is simply being elected rather than anything he did in office, is by giving it the Oliver Stone treatment and just throwing reality aside and just embracing dramatic revisionism.

I agree and disagree. Doing a movie about Obama's youth could be interesting. But when you bring up innuendo and gossip that is the flip side of hagiography and not very much more helpful.

As for Obama's legacy as a whole, again we disagree. I know you have been disappointed by Obama from the start Matt, but I think he has had more success than any president since Reagan of implementing his agenda. Whether you agree with that agenda or not is another thing, but unlike Bush's whose legacy is mostly failure, Obama's overhaul of the health insurance industry, salvation of the auto industry, and opening Cuba and possibly Iran (for better or worse) makes him a very consequential president, and not just because everything fell apart like it did for W.

With that said, I am sure there will be a movie one day about the healthcare fight or maybe just Bin Laden that is friendlier to the White House than Zero Dark Thirty was. Of course, whether these are good movies or are even positive will depend how the next decade or so unfolds.

Either way, McConnell, Boehner, and the GOP's obstruction will become more cringe-inducing as time passes and all of their excuses get conflated by the broad brush of history as being the white men who always said "no," Tea Party caucuses and Ted Cruz grandstanding or no.