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 printable version
DIRECTOR INTERVIEW
Tuesday 22 October 2002
Alexandra Pelosi explains how George W Bush charmed the pants off her and her comrades in the Dubya press corps.
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BBC Four: What were your expectations of George W Bush before you hit the road with him?
Alexandra Pelosi: I was indoctrinated in the Democratic Party. My mother is a member of Congress so there was a part of me that thought George Bush couldn't be anything other than evil. I grew up with his father as president so I wasn't excited about the prospect of spending a year and a half with a Republican. I think what Journeys with George does is humanise him - maybe a little bit too much.
BBC Four: Once you made the film wasn't there some controversy about the White House not being happy about it?
AP: They initially said I didn't have permission to show it in public. But once they started saying that, they realised that it was nothing but good publicity for me. All these articles were being written about The Movie the White House Doesn't Want You to See. They didn't want that because everyone would want to see it. They've changed their tune now and say they like the movie. They now want it to look like White House sponsored propaganda, which no one will want to watch.
BBC Four: What's most interesting about the film is what you keep referring to as the "press bubble". All these journalists cooped up going from one strange place to another...
AP: That's why I made the movie. I would be sitting on the bus and my friends would call and ask where I was. I'd say "Ohio" and they'd ask where I was going next and it would be Arizona. I was showing people on the outside of the bubble how it all works and how Bush works the media. That's the most important stuff in the movie for me, not what George Bush eats or what he says about his wardrobe. It's about how the media in America functions on a presidential campaign.
BBC Four: And how George Bush charmed you all...
AP: That's the premise of the whole movie. Al Gore never went anywhere near his press corps. George Bush spent a lot of energy wooing the reporters so that they would treat him well as the president. He charmed the pants off us. That was a lot of work! He had to come round and learn all our names, set us up on dates, find us husbands. It required a lot of energy on his part. Everybody says that George Bush is such an idiot but he's brilliant. Look at the ways he woos this plane full of liberal reporters. It was really brilliant media manipulation.
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