Chief of staff, John Kelly, has a terrible time getting the president into his office by nine A.M., and then he is reportedly back in bed by 6:30 P.M. making phone calls and watching TV. Now, Donald Trump wants to check out a popular a movie, too. This one comes as a surprise, though, because he has called the star “over-rated.”
First, Trump wanted to ban the new tell-all book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Will he want to ban The Post, too? For some reason, all the president’s men and women wanted to preview the 20th Century Fox political drama at the White House and at Camp David, where the president and primary GOP lawmakers have hunkered down.
The Post is about The Washington Post deciding to run the top-secret Pentagon Papers in 1971, and the Nixon administration sued the paper. Newspaper owner Katharine Graham, played by Meryl Streep, walked right into the man’s world and did battle successfully with everything Nixon could throw at her. Tom Hanks played her infamous editor, Ben Bradlee.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote that former Sony film studio head and co-producer of Post, Amy Pascal commented:
‘I think it has been an unspoken truth in Hollywood that people are scared to make movies about politics. The Post is proof that this isn’t true. And the idea of a woman finding her voice is as relevant as politics in the movie.’
In itself, presidents previewing movies at the White House has not been unusual. Whether or not this viewing will be for Trump or just those around him is unclear.
Meryl Streep has been on 45’s hit list ever since he called her a “Hillary flunky.” She took the opportunity to criticize him in her acceptance speech at the last Golden Globes ceremony. The Globes awarded her the Cecil B. DeMille Award, hardly something they would award an “over-rated” “Hillary flunky.” Both Post stars Streep and Tom Hanks have criticized the president.
Hanks, who has said he would decline any invitation to this White House, commented that “now is the time,” according to the Hollywood Reporter:
‘I would not have been able to imagine that we would be living in a country where neo-Nazis are doing torchlight parades in Charlottesville (Virginia) and jokes about Pocahontas are being made in front of the Navajo code talkers. And individually we have to decide when we take to the ramparts. You don’t take to the ramparts necessarily right away, but you do have to start weighing things. You may think: ‘You know what? I think now is the time.’
Co-producer Steven Spielberg reported that he hurried to put the movie out, because he wanted to remind people how important the First Amendment is, especially now. Trump has repeated the term “Fake News” so often that millions of Americans believe him.
The Post is up for six awards at the upcoming Golden Globe production Sunday night. Spielberg launched the film on December 22 at nine theaters in cities including Washington, D.C., New York, and Los Angeles. It made the highest screen average among the year-end holiday movies and has earned $2 million so far.
Co-writer of the movie, Josh Singer said the White House “loved” it:
‘They completely loved the movie, because the movie is about America and the movie is about the truth. This movie is for everyone. Kellyanne loved it, too, and danced all night with (Post co-writer).’
Check out this clip of The Post:
Come take a journey into a new era with the women of #ThePost. NOW PLAYING in select theaters. Everywhere January 12. Get tickets: https://t.co/puTD4aLdks pic.twitter.com/93ST5ui3KN
— The Post (@ThePostMovie) January 4, 2018
Featured Image via Josphine Mamdough’s Facebook Page.
